Study: Getting on Twitter's Suggested Users List Means Gaining 53,000 New Followers in a Week
It's no secret that getting on Twitter's suggested user list will quickly drive a user's follower numbers up, but thanks to O'Reilly's Ben Lorica, we can now actually quantify this boost. Lorica, with the help of tools like Twitterholic and Twittercount, examined data from about 80 users who made it onto the suggested user list. On average, these users gained around 53,000 new followers after being on the suggested user list for a week. After 30 days, these users had gained almost 200,000 new followers on average.
According to Lorica's data, even those suggested users who are relatively unpopular still gain around 45,000 new followers in the first week and 170,000 in the first month. The most popular new suggested users can get more than 370,000 new followers in 30 days.
Interestingly, suggested users who already started out with a large number of followers (25,000+) also gained more followers from getting onto the suggested user list.
Profit? Number of Followers Doesn't Equal Influence
Lorica rightly warns that simply having a lot of users on Twitter does not equal having a lot of influence, but given how many Twitter users are fascinated by these numbers (and the number of quacks who spam us with get-lots of-Twitter-followers-quick scams), it is nice to see some good data for what a spot on the suggest user list is 'worth.'
You can find ReadWriteWeb on Twitter, as well as the entire RWW Team: Marshall Kirkpatrick, Bernard Lunn, Alex Iskold, Sarah Perez, Frederic Lardinois, Rick Turoczy, Sean Ammirati, Lidija Davis, Jolie Odell and Phil Glockner.
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Would be cool to be on that list :)
Posted by: Svartling
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May 18, 2009 8:52 AM
Wish I could get into Suggested Users someday XD
But what does gaining 53,000 mean?
Posted by: phil baumann
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May 18, 2009 9:18 AM
Millions of people on twitter but only 80 suggested people? They need far more on that list, too few people have too much attention. The list is also hard to navigate as the box scrolls too fast. 20 categories with about 50 people in each would be far better.
Two side of the same coin:
The person who thinks Twitter is a megaphone to talk down to as many people as possible about their craptastic product/service, thinks he can get more billable hours for using "Web 3.0", "semantic" and "centergenisticable" in blog posts.
Most important part of this post is the notation that followers doesn't result in influence. Good stuff, thanks for sharing!
Maria Reyes-McDavis
An awesome short and compelling piece. Although followers doesn't result in influence, but if used properly, followers definitely equals more cash in your pocket than ever before.
But what does gaining 53,000 mean? realy?
.. i think is true !
How empty are the lives of those 53,000 Twitter followers? Why would anyone want to be a mere follower?
The leaders and the laggards.
Still Twitter doesn't know if the followers actually read the messages of the Leaders.
This suggested users list looks a bit odd as it doesn't take into account at all one's interests nor contacts. It is something they should consider at twitter as other tools as coming up like twibes.com
In the meantime, if you are into life science, feel free to follow us @novoseek (new biomedical search engine)
It is interesting to see some data on the subject. But as you highlight the data is a little hollow considering that gaining a high number of followers (especially from a brand/ marketing stand point) via the recommended list might not lead to greater 'influence' by putting you in touch with 53,000 relevant or interested twitterers.
How does one get into the suggested user list?
53,000 followers in 1st week, spend 5 secs checking out each follower, it would take you 184 days working non-stop. See all the extra time us unpopular twitterers have!
Nice post and I am also using twitter but i did not get suggested url now.
Twitter's rapid growth made it the object of intense interest and a fair amount of ridicule, as it was derided as high-tech trivia or the latest in time-wasting devices. But its use in Iran in the wake of the disputed presidential election of June 2009 to organize protests and disseminate information in the face of a news media crackdown brought it new respect.