数据力证Twitter商业价值

    人们对Twitter印象不佳往往是由关注的领域和浏览的内容决定的。常见的一种评价是：“谁关心哪位孤家寡人午餐吃的什么？”

    Twitter与其它形式的媒体包括别的社交网站不同，它的面貌是由用户自身决定的。总的来说，Twitter颇为空虚无聊，因为上面的大部分活动都很空虚无聊。（只要看看Twitter上的热门话题就能明白这一点。）但如果用户是严谨的专业人士，主要将Twitter用于工作，则完全用不着每天盯着Twitter上空虚无聊的废话。Twiiter是一个巨大的大杂烩，包含无数高度细分的社区，尽管各社区边界极具渗透性。例如，经营音响器材的用户可以自行决定关注的范围，选择仅仅关注行业内的用户，同时只接受同行的关注。与一些青少年眼中的贾斯汀•比伯版Twitter相比，前者可谓是完全不同的世界。

    近日，英国创意网站Touch Agency发布了一系列与Twitter有关的数据，也许能从中一窥Twitter的商业价值。例如：《财富》杂志（Fortune）全球500强中前100位的公司，有88家至少每天都在更新其Twitter账户。此外，在Twitter上关注特定品牌的粉丝里，有四分之三的人更倾向于购买这些品牌的产品。

    此外，还有一些更为概括的数据，或许更出人意料。Twitter近70%的用户在美国境外。Twiiter每秒钟注册的新账号超过5个，每天则有大约45万新账号诞生。有一点需要说明的是，这些数据的可靠性并不一致，正如Touch公司所言，这些数据来自“一系列网络来源”。无论如何，这些数字还是颇有意思的。

    译者：项航

    Depending on where you go online and what you read, much of what you see about Twitter might be negative. "Who cares what some lonely guy had for lunch?" is one variation on a common refrain.

    But Twitter, unlike many other forms of media including other social sites, is what you make it. Taken as a whole, Twitter is silly and inane because most of what goes on there is silly and inane. (Just watch the trending topics.) But if you're a serious professional who uses Twitter mostly for work, you may not have to see very much of the silly and inane stuff at all. Twitter is a gigantic set of highly segregated neighborhoods, albeit ones with extremely permeable borders. If you're in the audio-equipment business, for example, you can follow and be followed by only people in that business should you choose to. Compared to some random pre-teen's Bieber-centric Twitter experience, it's a whole different world.

    A set of stats recently released by the British creative shop Touch Agency helps make the business case for Twitter. For instance: 88 of the companies on the Fortune Global 100 list update their Twitter accounts at least daily. And: Three-quarters of people who follow brands on Twitter are more likely to buy from that brand.

    Other, more-general stats might surprise. Some 70% of Twitter users are outside the United States. And, every second of every day, more than five new Twitter accounts are created, amounting to about 450,000 new accounts daily. One caveat: these numbers likely vary somewhat in reliability, collected as they were from as Touch puts it, "a range of online sources." Still, an interesting case for Twitter nonetheless.