Microblogging site Twitter is experiencing a sensational growth in popularity following of a series of recent celebrity endorsements, according to new online monitoring data.
Research by web traffic reporting service Nielsen Online has revealed that membership to Twitter has grown by more than 100% since March on the back of several surges in new users as high-profile figures, such as Oprah Winfrey and Hugh Jackman, signed up to the service.
Twitter has undoubtedly become the latest Web2.0 phenomenon that everyone in the social networking community is talking about. But exactly for how long? According to the Nielsen Online figures retention rates are somewhat less impressive, with more than 60% of new users ditching the site within a month of signing up.
By comparison, rivals Facebook and MySpace both currently enjoy retention levels of around 70%.
However, hardcore users claim that the stats are misleading as they do not take into account how many users access Twitter by using third-party applications, such as Tweetie and TweetDeck, without the need to sign in on Twitter.com.
Whether the retention figures are a true reflection of Twitter's long-term prospects or not, the fact that the service is getting so much media exposure suggests that it will continue to boost its ranks for some time to come.