Is time up for Twitter?

Readers of previous posts will know that I’m unconvinced by Twitter.  I can’t help feeling that half the world must have gone mad if they’re truly interested in tiny chunks of self-obsessed and largely banal content. 

But I must admit to moments of self-doubt where I wonder if I must be missing something.  Perhaps I’m losing touch.  Surely all these people can’t be wrong? 

 So I’m greatly reassured by any news of its impeding decline, and several such items caught my eye recently.

 A new study by US market research company Pear Analytics found that some 40% of tweets were, in their own words, ‘pointless babble’ a further 38% were conversations between two users and only around 9% had any pass along value.  Self promotion and spam stood at 6% and 4% respectively. 

Ian Monk in his regular column for PR Week made me chuckle last week saying “Self-glorification is the prime function of the craze… Twitter’s PR spin has been to make itself the story, rather than simply a gimmicky messenger. Its distraction of much of the PR and media industry is a case study in irony.” 

Of course time isn’t up for Twitter.  But it’s good to know I’m not alone in wondering what all the fuss is about.