Twitter Reaches 100 Million ACTIVE Users

Sounds like a number you have seen before? That’s because in March of this year it was announced Twitter had reached 100 million users. So why is it news again? The difference is in the word active.

Active users are classified as people who use the service at least once a month. That means 100 million accounts have not used Twitter in the last month.

Of course reaching 100 million users is a massive milestone. But I’d like to focus on the point of active versus inactive users. This is a discussion we often have with our clients.

We always recommend them not to focus on numbers such as number of users. Sure, they are a cause for celebration at Twitter HQ. And yes, it does highlight a positive trends toward mainstream adoption of the Twitter service.

But without any context they are meaningless and serve no purpose in the decision making process. Active users is already a more meaningful statistic. But when that includes anyone logging in at least once a month, it still lacks context:

– How many of them use the service even more regularly (reaching out to someone using the service only once a month hardly seems worth the trouble)

– What is the demographic breakdown? For example, is there a specific group that uses the service more regularly?

– For what reason are these people using the service?

However, there are two crucial questions to ask yourself before deciding if Twitter is the right place for your brand, regardless of this news:

1) Can we reach our customers and prospects through this medium?

2) Can using Twitter help us achieve our brand and business objectives?

The larger Twitter gets, the more likely the answer will become yes. Facebook has become so ubiquitous that you will struggle to find a brand and circumstances in which they cannot deliver any value through participating on this platform.

But don’t let overwhelming number such as these let you forget to ask these crucial questions.

Having said all that, congratulations to the Twitter team!