The Happiest Tweeps are Frequent Clickers

Over the course of eight months, I conducted a survey of 336 internet users. My last post described how Twitter Quitters percieve Twitter (as boring). In this one, I highlight my findings on what drives user satisfaction in Twitter.

I asked users to rate their level of agreement with statements such as “Twitter helps me have fun” and “Twitter helps me build my business or career.” I also asked them how frequently they performed various activities. I broke users into three groups: highly satisfied (agreed with all the “Twitter helps me” statements), highly dissatisfied (disagreed with all the “Twitter helps me” statements), and moderates*.

What traits do highly-satisfied Twitter users have in common?

Satisfied users were: engaged, frequent and long-term users, information consumers and conveyers, and used multiple methods to access Twitter.

• 100% check Twitter several times a day
• 100% have been on Twitter 3+ months

• 100% follow more than 50 people (and have more than 50 following them)
• 100% tweet their status at least a few times a day, and check others’ tweets many times a day
• 100% reply to someone else’s tweets a few times daily
• 70% report DMing at least a few times a day

• 100% access Twitter through a client, in addition to Twitter.com
• 89% also access through their phone

• 100% click on a link at least a few times a day
• 77% send links at least a few times a day; another 22% send links at least every couple of days
• 78% search for people to follow at least monthly–and most searched at least weekly

All in all, the most satisfied users were proactive in their use of Twitter, and used it frequently through multiple tools. The two results I find most interesting are that satisfied users clicked on links frequently, and a large number of them actively and regularly searched for new people to follow.

What are the traits of dissatisfied Twitter users?

 Although the numbers weren’t as stark, low-satisfaction Twitter users demonstrated many of the opposite traits:

• 60% have been on Twitter 2 months or less
• 70% access Twitter rarely
• 70% follow 10 or fewer people (and have 10 or fewer following them)
• 70% report initiating activity rarely (tweeting their status, checking others’ tweets, replying, DMing, or searching)

More tools, use, and clicking = More Twitter satisfaction

The data from the moderate group only strengthens the conclusion that, in Twitter, greater satisfaction correlates to more frequent use, more interaction, a variety of access methods, and more clicks on links.

Satisfaction generally rose with how frequently users accessed Twitter, viewed the stream, and updated their status:

Satisfaction also rose as users followed more people and clicked more links:

Finally, there’s a clear and strong correlation between satisfaction and the number of ways users access Twitter:

Conclusion: Frequency and variety lead to Twitter satisfaction

There are plenty of happy Twitter users, but it appears that your satisfaction with Twitter is going to depend on how much you invest into it. Investing means everything from searching around for a good Twitter client to checking Twitter frequently. New users who stick with Twitter, use multiple ways to access it, access it frequently, follow a good number of people, and click on and share links are all likely to find value in Twitter. The more time they invest interacting with it, the more likely users are to find Twitter valuable in a variety of ways.

So tell new Twitter users that they CAN get Twitter satisfaction, with a little effort.

Neicole Crepeau is a tech industry veteran of 27 years, and has worked in marketing, design, and technical writing. She tweets and blogs about social media, web technology, and user experience under @neicolec and Coherent Social Media.  She does social media consulting and user experience design at Coherent Interactive.

*Notes on the methodology: All data was self-reported and the users were self-selected.) To determine moderates, for each “Twitter helps me” statement, I assigned a number from 1 to 5 to indicate the level of agreement. This gave a range of 9 (lowest satisfaction) to 45 (highest satisfaction) across all the questions. I categorized users in the range of 18 to 35 as moderates, and looked for trends in their answers.