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How many new people sign up for Twitter every week?
Best Answer will get 2 Mahalo Dollars AND a "Researcher" credit in Friday's episode of This Week in YouTube! Please cite your source(s)!
voted interesting: robbrown
answers (3)
Lon, I'm a fan of you and Mahalo Daily. Nice work.
How many people sign up for Twitter every week?
On average, 19,239.77 people have signed up every week over the past year.
Twitter considers both the number of new user sign-ups and the number of users in total a trade secret. Twitter themselves will not release the exact numbers.
To obtain this number, we must know the the total number of users and the current rate of growth.
Nick O'Neill (a well known social media observer) reviewed Compete's statistics for March 2009:
http://www.socialtimes.com/2009/03/twitter-us-growth/
O'Neill estimates Twitter currently has 10 million users.
Previously, in March 2008, TechCrunch took a close look at Twitter to determine the number of users:
http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/04/29/end-of-speculation-the-real-twitter-usage-numbers/
Based on (again) Compete's numbers, they estimated that Twitter had 1 million users.
This sets Twitters yearly growth rate at 1:10, 10% per year, or 0.19% per week.
If the total current number of Twitter users equals 10 million
And if the weekly growth rate is 0.19%
Then, the total number of new users is ~19230.7692
Twitters growth rate is currently increasing exponentially. A various number of external factors (including a mass-media frenzy) are propelling Twitter signups. The 20k number "feels" low because this is an average over the past year *and not* the average number of people who registered over the last several weeks. This number would *much* higher. Over the course of an entire year where the network has received such a drastic increase of traffic, this rate is accurate and representative of a long data set.
Adam Ostrow of Mashable reviewed current Nielsen Online data and uncovered that "Twitter grew 1,382% year-over-year in February, registering a total of just more than 7 million unique visitors in the US for the month." http://mashable.com/2009/03/16/twitter-growth-rate-versus-facebook/
While the number of uniques does not equate to new registrations, it reflects the huge influx of traffic that the site currently has.
When evaluating user contributed networks it is important to evaluate the number of "active and committed" members. If you're thinking about purchasing Twitter, you will require a different metric other than a simple member evaluation. If this is the case, post a comment and I'll be glad to help!
How many people sign up for Twitter every week?
On average, 19,239.77 people have signed up every week over the past year.
Twitter considers both the number of new user sign-ups and the number of users in total a trade secret. Twitter themselves will not release the exact numbers.
To obtain this number, we must know the the total number of users and the current rate of growth.
Nick O'Neill (a well known social media observer) reviewed Compete's statistics for March 2009:
http://www.socialtimes.com/2009/03/twitter-us-growth/
O'Neill estimates Twitter currently has 10 million users.
Previously, in March 2008, TechCrunch took a close look at Twitter to determine the number of users:
http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/04/29/end-of-speculation-the-real-twitter-usage-numbers/
Based on (again) Compete's numbers, they estimated that Twitter had 1 million users.
This sets Twitters yearly growth rate at 1:10, 10% per year, or 0.19% per week.
If the total current number of Twitter users equals 10 million
And if the weekly growth rate is 0.19%
Then, the total number of new users is ~19230.7692
Twitters growth rate is currently increasing exponentially. A various number of external factors (including a mass-media frenzy) are propelling Twitter signups. The 20k number "feels" low because this is an average over the past year *and not* the average number of people who registered over the last several weeks. This number would *much* higher. Over the course of an entire year where the network has received such a drastic increase of traffic, this rate is accurate and representative of a long data set.
Adam Ostrow of Mashable reviewed current Nielsen Online data and uncovered that "Twitter grew 1,382% year-over-year in February, registering a total of just more than 7 million unique visitors in the US for the month." http://mashable.com/2009/03/16/twitter-growth-rate-versus-facebook/
While the number of uniques does not equate to new registrations, it reflects the huge influx of traffic that the site currently has.
When evaluating user contributed networks it is important to evaluate the number of "active and committed" members. If you're thinking about purchasing Twitter, you will require a different metric other than a simple member evaluation. If this is the case, post a comment and I'll be glad to help!
| Asker's rating: |
Thanks for the great answer, Rob. Unfortunately, I am not really thinking seriously about purchasing Twitter...A Twitter decal to go on the back of my 1981 Toyota Celica would be more in my price range.
But your calculations all seem logical to me, and it's certainly good enough for my podcast joke-making purposes. Look for your "researcher" credit in Friday's episode!
But your calculations all seem logical to me, and it's certainly good enough for my podcast joke-making purposes. Look for your "researcher" credit in Friday's episode!
voted helpful: mikeuser
lon,
6,000 small business sign up every day. So, in a week that would be 42,000 small business. You could fill up a baseball stadium with this number. People could tweet the wave, if they so cared to do so :-)
HubSpot estimates 5-10 thousand new people a day, so that would be 50,000 to 70,000 every week, and this was at the end of 2008.
http://www.docstoc.com/docs/3190008/State-of-the-Twittersphere
Look at this growth chart, and you can see traffic has increased over 900%
http://siteanalytics.compete.com/twitter.com/?metric=uv
So, probably at least 100,000 a week would be a good approximation, as the growth is steadily growing, if people are different from small businesses.
6,000 small business sign up every day. So, in a week that would be 42,000 small business. You could fill up a baseball stadium with this number. People could tweet the wave, if they so cared to do so :-)
HubSpot estimates 5-10 thousand new people a day, so that would be 50,000 to 70,000 every week, and this was at the end of 2008.
http://www.docstoc.com/docs/3190008/State-of-the-Twittersphere
Look at this growth chart, and you can see traffic has increased over 900%
http://siteanalytics.compete.com/twitter.com/?metric=uv
So, probably at least 100,000 a week would be a good approximation, as the growth is steadily growing, if people are different from small businesses.
source(s):
http://www.launchlab.co.uk/article/Start-up-News/6,000-small-firms-join-Twi...‘every-day’/811
http://siteanalytics.compete.com/twitter.com/?metric=uv
http://wiki.answers.com/Q/How_many_people_are_on_Twitter
http://www.dailyblogtips.com/how-many-users-does-twitter-have/
http://www.launchlab.co.uk/article/Start-up-News/6,000-small-firms-join-Twi...‘every-day’/811
http://siteanalytics.compete.com/twitter.com/?metric=uv
http://wiki.answers.com/Q/How_many_people_are_on_Twitter
http://www.dailyblogtips.com/how-many-users-does-twitter-have/
voted helpful: roybott
Really great job on this Answer, EasyE. I'm going with Robbrown because his info is more current (2009 data as opposed to 2008) and, frankly, I found the 20,000/week figure a bit more believable than 100,000. But it was a tough call.
Looks like you should have won this answer Easyeboy.
I sent you the M$2 tip that I received for this question.
I sent you the M$2 tip that I received for this question.
According to Mashable (see source URL)...
"The latest numbers from Nielsen Online indicate that Twitter grew 1,382% year-over-year in February, registering a total of just more than 7 million unique visitors in the US for the month."
Based on these numbers (reported March 16, 2009), Twitter grew by approximately 6,500,000 users during the past year, or about 125,000 users per week.
"The latest numbers from Nielsen Online indicate that Twitter grew 1,382% year-over-year in February, registering a total of just more than 7 million unique visitors in the US for the month."
Based on these numbers (reported March 16, 2009), Twitter grew by approximately 6,500,000 users during the past year, or about 125,000 users per week.
voted helpful: roybott
Seems like all this information is based on unique visitors, not users. If someone looks at a tweet on Twitter.com, this doesn't necessarily mean they are going to sign up for Twitter, I'm thinking...Still, very interesting information, and I appreciate it.
You're absolutely correct Ion. My bad for not reading what the source said very plainly.
Sorry for any confusion.
Sorry for any confusion.
Ion,
My use of 'unique visitors' may be incorrect, but the methodology used to determine the answer is not.
Please see my comment to Rob's response. I don't believe his answer is right, as the numbers just don't add-up...
Respectfully,
Ken
My use of 'unique visitors' may be incorrect, but the methodology used to determine the answer is not.
Please see my comment to Rob's response. I don't believe his answer is right, as the numbers just don't add-up...
Respectfully,
Ken
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If Twitter has ~10 million users as of March 2009 and had ~1 million in March 2008, how can you state "...the total number of new users is ~19230.7692."? My arithmetic tells me that 10,000,000 - 1,000,000 = 9,000,000.
That would be 9 million new users added from March 2008 to March 2009.
Assuming, for simplicity, a level growth rate, that would mean there were ~173,000 new users per week (9,000,000 / 52 = 173,077).
Please help me understand how 19,239.77 new users per week can be correct, when that would result in 1,000,468 new users from March 2008 to March 2009 (19,239.77 * 52 = 1,000,468).
Thanks!
Ken
For my own personal use, I labour over spreadsheets that calculate values such as these. This calculation was done quickly. However, after carefully considering your view, I maintain that 20,000 users is closer to Twitters weekly new registration number than 170,000.
You've assumed that the growth rate is "level". It can't be.
The variables in my solution include:
If the total current number of Twitter users equals 10 million
And if the weekly growth rate is 0.19%
Again, I've conceded that this calculation is an estimate based not on real numbers but on speculation garnered through the sources I found. If either the total number of registered users is incorrect or the average growth rate over 1a is incorrect, my 20k estimate will change.
Even with a non-level growth rate, a mere 20,000 users per week still results in only 1,000,000 new users per year, when it is commonly accepted that there were 9,000,000 new users between March 2008 and March 2009.
In fact your first source (Nick O'Neill) states "More realistically I’d estimate that the company will end up closer to 50 million users by the end of the year." That type of target is not possible at your 20,000 per week, nor my 173,000 per week, but would require an astronomical growth of ~770,000 new users per week! (770,000 * 52 = 40,040,000)
I don't plan to continue debating this, as it's not that important. I just wanted to point out that your math was inconsistent (your statement that there were 19230.7692 new users versus 9,000,000), which leads to some unusual interpretations of what the future growth rate may be.
Respectfully,
Ken
With simple division and multiplication, 9,000,000 does not add up.
Internet traffic in general is not only fickle but difficult to quantify and predict. Statisticians who are much smarter than I am have difficulty determining even somewhat accurate growth rates in online social networks.
Thanks for your challenge, Ken. It continues to make me question my answer. However, I really don't think that I'm too far off.
Oh well.