Podcast Summary: "Is Twitter Dead?"

The Digital Marketing Podcast
Hosts: Daniel Rowles & Ciaran Rogers
Date: January 12, 2018

Episode Overview

Daniel Rowles and Ciaran Rogers tackle the provocative question, "Is Twitter Dead?" Drawing on personal observations, industry changes, and analytics, they explore Twitter's relevancy, evolving features, audience shifts, and tools for digital marketers in early 2018. The discussion moves from user behavior (especially among young people), new platform features, analytics tools, and practical tips for maximizing Twitter's effectiveness.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Declining Youth Usage: Is Twitter Losing the Next Generation?

Timestamps: 00:22–02:40

• Observation: Daniel describes his annual social platform survey with marketing Master’s students at Imperial College. Once, 95% used Twitter; now, only 4 out of 200 do, and most don’t even understand the platform.
  • Quote: “So in a youth-based audience, Twitter has a problem, really does have a problem.” – Daniel (01:11)
• Instagram and Snapchat are more popular with younger users.
• Despite decline among young people, general Twitter user numbers have grown from 320 million to 340 million, but much slower compared to Facebook.

Tone:

Balanced, with Daniel openly admitting his own fondness for Twitter but recognizing its challenges with younger demographics.

2. The Challenge of Accurate Social Media Stats

Timestamps: 02:40–03:04

• Both hosts express skepticism about the reliability of public stats on social media usage.
  • Quote: “Actually getting accurate stats out of the social media networks is quite hard.” – Ciaran (02:41)
• Statistics vary and often lack clarity on when or how they were gathered.
• The hosts invite listeners who have better or more recent statistics to contribute.

3. Key Twitter Feature Changes & Their Impact

Timestamps: 03:04–05:33

• Doubling Character Limit: Twitter increased tweet length from 140 to 280 characters.
  • Daniel was initially resistant: “I wasn’t really keen on this at all, to be honest. I quite like the fact that you had to squeeze things into 140 characters. Made you think about what you were writing.” (03:29)
  • Early stats show users engage more with longer tweets, but engagement could be artificially high due to novelty.
• Twitter Threads: Feature for linking multiple tweets for longer-form content.
  • Quote: “It’s another medium of communication...not dissimilar from the Twitter story type.” – Ciaran (04:48)
  • Daniel notes: “It makes sense because people are doing it anyway.” (05:27)

4. Analytics & Tools for Twitter Marketers

Timestamps: 05:33–08:01

a. Twitter Assistant & Third-Party Tools (Union Metrics/Tweriad)

• Twitter partners with Union Metrics for deeper analytics, recommending optimal posting times and suggesting tweet formats (e.g., more video content).
• Quote: “Ever since I've done this, they have been trying to sell with a premium tool. So just be aware, if you sign up for the free stuff, they're gonna sell the premium stuff, which is fair enough.” – Daniel (06:20)
• Tools tend to reinforce user’s existing habits, so hosts advise experimentation instead of relying solely on tool-recommended posting times.
  • Quote: “If you always tweet at the same time, it will say, oh, that's surprisingly the best time to do it. So you got to be careful...” – Daniel (07:33)

5. Auto-Promote: Paid Reach Made Simple

Timestamps: 08:01–11:01

• Auto Promote: Twitter’s monthly paid feature to automatically boost tweet reach (costing ~£80/month).
• Daniel’s experience: paid impressions doubled his organic reach, with similar or better engagement rates.
  • Quote: “It's not setting the world on fire, but what it's doing is pretty much doubling the amount of people that see my tweets.” (08:54)
• Quality of traffic (engagement/clicks) remains comparable, possibly even improving.
• The more often you tweet, the better the value from the Auto Promote feature.

6. Twitter Analytics Deep Dive

Timestamps: 11:06–15:19

• New Analytics Features:
  • Homepage: summary of key metrics, top tweets, mentions.
  • Tweets Tab: daily engagement, performance per tweet.
  • Audiences Tab: rich demographic and behavioral data.
    • Quote: “Demographic information on this is really useful...it tells you, gives you some really useful insights into who your Twitter audience is.” – Ciaran (12:03)
• Video Analytics: Now providing completion rates, not just views.
  • Hosts realize video content over ~15 seconds sees much higher drop-off rates.
  • Quote: “Most people weren't getting past 25% of the video...your videos are too long.” – Ciaran (13:51)
  • This prompted a change in their strategy to create shorter video clips.

7. Attribution & Conversion Tracking for Twitter Ads

Timestamps: 15:19–17:50

• Challenge: Standard Google Analytics reports often understate Twitter ad efficacy due to last-click attribution model.
• Solution: Twitter’s conversion tracking code allows broader attribution windows and better insights into the value of Twitter-driven conversions.
• Marketers are encouraged to consider Twitter as a discovery channel, with attribution often realized through broader (multi-touch) windows.

8. IBM Watson & Analyzing Twitter’s Tone of Voice

Timestamps: 17:50–20:45

• IBM Watson’s Free Analysis Tool: Allows users to analyze the tone and personality of any Twitter account.
  • Daniel demonstrates with the Pope’s Twitter account, generating a humorous but revealing personality profile.
  • Quote: “You’re empathetic. You feel what others feel and are compassionate towards them. You're appreciative of art. You are driven and you have high goals for yourself.” – Daniel, reading Watson’s summary (19:52)
• Practical Application: Use it to check if your brand’s Twitter account aligns with desired tone/voice.

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Twitter’s Youth Problem:
  “If you are 21 years old, there's some problems that Twitter really need to address.” – Daniel (01:56)
• On Character Limit Change:
  “I was quite upset. Now it's just like...whatever. I've got more space to write stuff.” – Daniel (03:38)
• On the Analytics 'A-ha' Moment:
  “I was very happy, very proud of my one minute videos...No, Kieran, look at the data.” – Ciaran (14:09)
• On Conversions and Attribution:
  “If you just go on like a last click attribution report...you’d go, well that was a big fat waste of time. But actually if you look at a broader attribution window, you get much better insight.” – Ciaran (16:11)
• On IBM Watson’s Profile of the Pope:
  “He's unlikely to have a gym membership. He prefers style when buying clothes...Now this sounds a bit silly...but actually it's a really good tool.” – Daniel (19:23)

Key Takeaways for Digital Marketers

• Twitter’s not dead, but audience changes matter. It’s less appealing to youth; marketers must match the platform to the audience.
• Embrace new features. Test longer tweets, threads, video, and promotion tools to see what works for your brand.
• Dig into analytics. Use both Twitter’s built-in tools and third-party platforms for deeper insights—especially about timing, video, and audience demographics.
• Be data-driven but skeptical. Don’t let tools dictate all decisions—experiment and validate recommendations.
• Utilize conversion tracking and broader attribution. Especially important for accurately measuring the impact of Twitter advertising.
• Monitor your tone. Tools like IBM Watson can reveal if your brand’s voice online matches your intentions.

Useful Resources Mentioned

• Union Metrics (Twitter Assistant)
• Twitter Analytics
• IBM Watson Personality Insights (for Twitter tone analysis)

For a deeper dive on any point, see the corresponding timestamp above.
Skip to [11:14] for the most actionable analytics advice and to [17:50] for a fun demonstration of AI analyzing Twitter tone.

This episode delivers practical Twitter marketing insights, tempered with candid humor and first-hand experience. If you use Twitter for business, the advice here is both immediately usable and rooted in real-world data.