What follows is a work in progress so please disregard errors/typos/etc. My reason for posting this as a work in progress is simple, this is some important data and no place to collect the conversations surrounding it – consider this a surrogate. The original title of this post was, “That @mattgalloway”, which I will explain later.
For those of you who don’t know anything about what I am about to talk about let me provide two links:
http://www.thebasement.com/OklahomaTweets.pdf
http://www.thebasement.com/m.html
Take a moment, review and come back to discuss.
I would provide my take on all the above via twitter but some things/conversations, most which require any depth, just don’t work on twitter. And, since Matt Galloway didn’t post these on his website for me to comment there I will have to do so here. (hmmm, was this part of his master strategy??) Please add your thoughts in the comments section below.
My thoughts on the graph:
In the interest of full disclosure, Matt and I have already discussed this so much of what follows is a compilation of his and my thoughts (okay, mostly his but since this is my site…)
First, the greatest value of this data isn’t the single snapshots of ever day or the accumulated data at the end. The greatest value is watching the data in motion. Seriously, go play with it. Do you see the general growth at the end of April or the huge retweet spike for Bartlesville around May 3 or Broken Arrow at the end of the data stream? We can go back and try to identify these anomalies to the normal trend lines and learn from this for future efforts.
As an aside, like all things twitter, the greatest value is looking at it from ten miles up, not at ground level.
We can also, visually, compare two cities or a grouping in greater detail. Simply click/drag the area and hit replay. Personally I am fascinated by the second tier data from the users in the Norman, Edmond, Stillwater and Broken Arrow areas.
All this to say, what I find most striking about this information is there isn’t anything striking about it at all. Everything makes perfect sense.
Matt’s Analysis
All of Matt’s analysis is 100% correct with the exception of the most interesting and, in my humble and accurate opinion, newsworthy slide (#26), “Stillwater is the most Twitter active city in Oklahoma”, three times the State’s average. I don’t disagree with the statement, just the analysis of why.
Work is calling and when I have time I will finish my post. In the mean time, finish it for me. Tell me what you found most interesting, what data would you like to see more of/drill down to, what surprised you or affirmed your suspicions. Start the discussion below!
I thought this study was very interesting. Being a new Twitter user and thinking it was more for the young “punks”, I was surprised with the statistics of Judd Wheeler, that the average age of Twitter users in Tulsa is 34.5. I’m 35, so it seems that I’m in the right age group to be actively twittering. Guess I’d better get busy…
I found this study particularly interesting since I live in Broken Arrow. I was surprised that with a population of 90,714, BA only had 468 Twitterers. I wonder why NSU and Rhema do not affect that Twitter pop as the other colleges have in their respective towns?
I think the Stillwater statistics is DEFINITELY the work of Bill Handy. After all, we won’t get an A in the class unless we Tweet enough! Of course, I’m here in BA so that won’t add to the statistics.
I also noticed from the statistics that it appears that we are getting more new Twitterers than losing Twitterers. During the study, 3,447 defected but 4,578 became new users. How many of them stay will be the deciding factor on the future growth of Twitter.
I was surprised by the fact that most Tweets were done after the dinner hour. I thought most would be during the work day or early morning. This seems to indicate that it is not being used for business purposes as much as for social purposes.
I was also surprised that Monday was the least active day during the work week. Although, this could be that most people are too busy catching up from the weekend to participate in social media. This might cause me to shift my main Twitter day to Tuesday instead of Monday. (or do both!)
Thanks for the stats. It was interesting and helpful.
Matt, thank you for an insightful look into the Oklahoman twittersphere.
I think it’s very true that you need to know how to use the various marketing tools but it is more important to know who those people are. I’m not going to sell estate planning to kids.
I’m not sure that just because Twitter represents 1% of the population that it should represent 1% of the marketing budget. Sometimes it should be 0% and sometimes it should be much, much more. The marketing budget should represent where your sales $ or potential sales $ are coming from. That’s like saying that because 25% of the population reads newspapers that 25% of your marketing dollar should go to newspaper ad buys to a company that sells solely on the Internet and receives 100% of their revenue through SEO, PPC and other Internet marketing tools. But that’s another discussion.
I completely agree with Abby in that sometimes companies should listen. Companies don’t always need to try and make the $ directly from using social media. Sometimes it’s about listening, engaging when necessary and adjusting products/services accordingly. A good example of this was announced at the 140 Conference, Kodak is hiring a Chief Listening Officer.
Unfortunately the average number of followers can be so out of whack with reality due to the ability to “buy” followers that it makes this number a little erroneous but I too would like to see this just for my own personal curiosity.
The total number of Oklahoman tweeps may actually be a little low. HubSpot research reports 68.68% of Twitter users don’t supply the location information in their profile. Otherwise, I feel it’s fairly accurate. Since there’s not a heavy flow into or out of Oklahoma, I think that people who don’t changed their location probably evens out in the end.
While the studies show that worldwide, the younger generation is less likely to Tweet, I’m not sure that applies in every city. I think in the case of Stillwater, especially, the “young punks” have had an effect on the usage.
Tulsa’s average age is 34.5 and 15-24 year olds make up 14.88% of the population. (1.20% active Twitter users)
OKC’s average age is 34 and 15-24 year olds make up 15.05% of the population. (1.04% active Twitter users)
Edmond’s average age is 33.6 and 15-24 year olds make up 16.22% of the population. (1.38% active Twitter users)
Norman’s average age is 29.3 and 15-24 year olds make up 25.23% of the population. (1.38% active Twitter users)
Tahlequah’s average age is 26.4 and 15-24 year olds make up 29.09% of the population. (0.83% active Twitter users)
Stillwater’s average age is 24 and 15-24 year olds make up 40.75% of the population. (1.73% active Twitter users)
Everyone is looking for what’s next but we cannot forget what’s now. Twitter is far from dead and still a viable marketing tool. Jarrett, you are totally correct that people WILL hop on the next bandwagon technology but it’s not here yet. My prediction is that it will be early next year. Until then, let’s make hay, understand the tools and who uses them and keep moving forward.
Bill: Thank you for posting this and I look forward to reading the finish written stylings of Bill Handy.
I thought the study was interesting and appreciated the humor weaved into the results.
It left me with a research question:
Why do people abandon Twitter accounts vs. why people embrace Twitter?
I’m curious about how you come to the conclusion that the “high density of youth propels Stillwater past larger cities in Twitter use,” when most Twitter users are 35 or older. Adults aged 18-24 make up only 10.6 percent of the Twitter population in the United States and are less likely than the average user to Tweet, according to one recent analysis: http://www.marketingvox.com/young-early-adopters-dont-drive-twitters-traffic-043778/
And, according to comScore, people “in the 45-54 age range are 36 percent more likely than average to visit Twitter and that the majority of its 10 million or so users are aged 35 or over.” http://www.bizreport.com/2009/04/comscore_twitter_not_teeming_with_teens.html
It seems to me that perhaps it is professors and others who work in academic settings who are driving those numbers. To draw that conclusion, or yours, much more data is required.
I’m also curious about the specific method you used to determine locations. For example, my location field is “Columbia, MO/Stillwater, OK” – would your method have picked that up?
Interesting stats but I think much more research and data is required to put the statistics in perspective.
http://twitter.com/AHCJ_Pia
Interesting information, particularly the leveling of twitter usage and growth in Oklahoma. From a social media perspective twitter has continually added new applications much like myspace and facebook to constantly create new ways a twitter user can interact and stay interested. The question for twitter’s success is if microblogging alone can continue to be valuable for business and organizations as mass consumers/people may hop on to the next hot bandwagon technology.
Also intereseting that Norman, Stillwater and Edmond (the three large universities in the state) twitter relatively equal to each other. Young phenomenon or will % usage rise as generations age and younger groups begin to use it? Or will twitter begin to dissipate as myspace is already doing…
All that aside well done….wish location data was more readily available and reliable.
The problem with looking at Twitter from the standpoint of location is how many people don’t use the right locations in their profile. Right now I’m currently showing up as being in Tehran and sometimes I’m in San Jose, CA (my home town). Most people that have jumped onto Twitter don’t even know how to change their location.
That being said seeing data being gathered about Twitter and OK is a good thing, I just wonder how accurate.
Brad
Tyler, I must be honest (you don’t know me, but that’s really all I am capable of being) I found your comment a little offensive and without humility. Thank you for spending the majority of your “comment” talking about how you were an early adapter to twitter and how the rest of us “mainstreamers” (despite the fact many MANY people/large companies have not embraced or even tried out twitter or “gasp” even researched what people are saying about them) should mosey on over to early adapt one of the 500 baby applications/sites/concepts popping up that might be the next big thing. Also, it worked! I checked out your agency. In many ways my company uses Twitter to listen and engage rather than simply to generate revenue. While it is all about the $$$, there is great value in listening. (All in good fun, I assure you
)
Now, onto my comments actually about the study: Great job Matt! As I told him this morning – the content is solid, the appearance is attractive and the snark is present – all makings of a great deck. He pulled some great takeaways from the data, and as Bill mentioned, nothing terribly shocking. Things I appreciated seeing backed up by research:
- 1 in 100 Oklahomans on Twitter (would be great to compare to other states/national average)
)
- Hours of tweeting (just interesting personally – side note: I miss college too
- Rural folk information (Oprah proves to influence the masses…again. Sigh)
- Is twitter dead yet slide (I agree!)
I especially appreciate how easy it is to analyze his analysis.
Things I wish it included:
- More cities
- Frequency users tweet (not just retention)
- Average number of followers for users
Bill, while you might not be the ONLY reason Stillwater is ranked so high, I believe (with no data to prove) that you are at least partially the reason. Your students engage on Twitter (either by force, desire to learn or sheer narcissism and to talk about how hopping Dirty’s was on Thursday) and as they engage, their friends engage, etc.
Well done both of you!
Bill: Thanks for posting this. As always, you rock.
Tyler: I completely agree. Part of the motivation behind compiling these statistics was to “size” Twitter. As I suspected when I started, and as you pointed out in your comments – it’s not all that big. Furthermore, my data shows that it’s no longer growing at an exponential rate (at least in Oklahoma). At the same time, Twitter does have a strong following, some significant business value, and all indications of a long road ahead (at least in “internet time”). In the short term, Twitter isn’t going to die but I do think it has peaked on the hype curve. It may sound hypocritical, but I too am tired of hearing about Twitter on Twitter (and elsewhere) – specifically I mean the echo-chamber Kumbia stuff. This study was an attempt to ground some of this conversation and take a look at what Twitter _really_ looks like in Oklahoma.
I do take issue with the idea that ad-biz people (students or professionals) should “use but not study” Twitter. How can you effectively use a tool if you do not understand it? Who can you reach with it? What does the usership look like? I think this applies to any tool or tactic a practioner is considering, no matter how short the shelf life. I think this study helps answer some of those very questions.
Lastly, Bill Handy is all about strategy and I don’t know anyone who whishes we’d stop talking about Twitter more than him.
Thanks for taking the time to share your thoughts.
-Matt
Not too much to say on your post here or the data-intensive study of Twitter, although I do find it funny how “into” Twitter a few people have become and how half of what they talk about on Twitter is…Twitter. It didn’t used to be like that. It used to be insightful. Now there’s just so much noise going on.
What I do want to comment about is how proud of OSU I am to be teaching some social media (read your “about” page). I hope it is with the intentions of students being able to leave with the knowledge of how to actually leverage it for business. There’s such a big disconnect right now with all these “social media” types. Most can’t tie one dollar that’s been made or generated by their efforts, and mostly because they’re so heavily concentrated on Twitter and that’s just such a small percentage of people that can be marketed to online, and even within social media.
Don’t get me wrong. I’m on Twitter. Traction manages 30 or so accounts. I actually started Traction’s account back in 2006 a couple weeks after they went live. Not to tweet my own horn, but I’d figure that my company was the first agency to be on Twitter in this state. Possibly the mid-west. We’ve used it in different ways over the years, and now it’s as much a tool for us to drive traffic as it is a conversation platform. And the important thing about driving traffic external of Twitter is having engaging, rich content, which Twitter doesn’t have.
I remember speaking in front of 50 or so OSU students back in 2006, and again in 2007, preaching social media to them. Not one student was on Twitter. None had ever even heard of web 2.0. I went over everything from social bookmarking, social networking, micro-blogs, to blogging. Within a month I had a few hook up with me on Del.icio.us. Then Facebook. Now, I talk with many students on Twitter and… get a load of this… in person from OSU, UCO, and OU. Ad2OKC, which I founded back at the same time, has been a great connection for us at Traction. I’ve hired 5 fairly fresh-out-of-college people from the club. They’re involved and making names for themselves.
So, coming from a young, active social media-type agency owner, I just want to caution students and people influencing students that – Twitter is now mainstream. It needs to be used, but not studied by ad-biz professionals. If it only represents 1.xx% of the population, then it should represent about the same in an marketing budget, and therefore doesn’t need to be magnified so much in people’s focus. Students need to be studying what’s next. That is, if they want to be hirable by an agency that knows what’s up. College kids in other states are even inventing what’s next! I recently filtered my RSS reader to omit any post with the word “Twitter” in it. Not only to cut down on the ridiculousness of the posts and the quantity (got to about 500 per day), but also to make sure I don’t focus on the present. There’s no innovation in that.
Again, I’m excited that kids are going to start coming out of college that know about this stuff. Next, maybe some college around here will implement something to do with interactive into graphic design curriculum. But they need to be taught to see, conquer, and move on. Sign up for every free online account you can, learn it’s ins and outs, figure out how it could potentially be leveraged for business and marketing, put it in your pocket (which means bookmark it on your fav social bookmarking site with appropriate tags), and go forward.
OSU is rockin’ it and… that rocks. So, rock on.
http://twitter.tractionokc.com
http://facebook.tractionokc.com