More than half of Twitter users stopped following brands because of ‘repetitive or boring messages’, according to a study conducted by ExactTarget and CoTweet. The Social Break-Up, a report on online behaviour, found that 52% of people stopped following a brand due to a lack of strategy when using the medium.
Additionally, 41% said their Twitter stream had become ‘too crowded with marketing messages’, 39% indicated that companies posted too frequently, and 21% said tweets were ‘too promotional’.
“As brands can use Twitter to respond to customers in real-time, Twitter is frequently accepted as more interactive than Facebook or email. But no other social media channel has such a polarising effect than Twitter—you either love it or hate it,” said Lee Hawksley, senior director at Exact Target Australia.
“This is why it’s just that little bit harder to provide users with genuinely relevant content. However, it’s important to remember that the users who are active on Twitter are the most active and involved online.”
The Social Break-Up also found:
- 17% of online consumers have created a Twitter account, yet only 9% are currently active.
- 71% of people who follow brands on Twitter expect to receive marketing messages from companies through the medium.
- 48% of active Twitter users check Twitter several times a day and 64% check Twitter at least once a day.
The study further revealed that almost half of all Twitter profiles are inactive, with 47% of those who had created a profile no longer considered active users.
More than half (52%) of the Twitter quitters found the platform ‘pointless’, with 38% saying it ‘got boring’. Almost a quarter quit when they found the social medium ‘too chaotic’.
The Social Break-Up report can be downloaded at www.ExactTarget.com/sff.
