Twitter has become a modern phenomenon. Founded in 2006, Twitter is a social networking and microblogging site that allows users to post messages of 140 characters or less called tweets. And it is changing the way we share ideas and information over the web.
In 2008 and the first half of 2009 traffic to Twitter.com exploded, starting at less less than half a million unique visitors per month in the beginning of 2008, increasing to over 5 million unique visitors per month in January 2009 and then 22 million in June 2009. Then something happened – the growth stopped. From June 2009 through January 2010 the traffic to Twitter.com remained relatively constant, between 22 and 23 million unique visitors per month.
But, that is only part of the story. During the same time period the number of tweets posted on Twitter continued increasing. In November 2008 the 1 billionth tweet was posted on Twitter. Then in October 2009 the 5 billionth tweet was posted and in March 2010 the 10 billionth tweet.
The number of people going to Twitter.com is no longer increasing, however those who do go to the site are utilizing it more. In other words, people are tweeting more! To me this is an exciting prospect. Twitter has a great potential for conversation and information sharing both locally and across the globe. People have used Twitter to communicate about political events, natural disasters, and triumph. It is very exciting to see individuals engaging more.
The conversation has begun. What will happen next?
Notes: Unique visitor statistics for Twitter for this post are from Compete, Quantcast, and Mashable.
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