They’ve re-run the numbers and Neilsen still is insisting 60% of people who sign up for Twitter abandon the service after a month. That’s the latest from the research company after questions arose concerning the study’s methodology.
The original report did not include people who use Twitter “client” apps rather than using Twitter.com.
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Update: Steve Safran from Audience Research & Development reports this headline might be misleading. Steve says,

“.. we have found a significant piece of user data is being overlooked – one that will surely skew the overall numbers. On the Nielsen Online Blog, David Martin, Vice President for Primary Research writes that, while Twitter has grown exponentially in the past few months, it’s having a hard time getting people to return to its site within a month. However – this raised a big question. Did Martin including the people who use Twitter via a “Twitter Client,”TwitterFeed, TweetDeck and other mobile apps to post?”
No.
What’s the big deal? According to TweetStats, 40% of the “Top 10 Twitter Apps” are from services other than Twitter. This is the equivalent of measuring YouTube users without measuring those who watch embedded YouTube videos on other sites or mobile phones.”

Read Steve’s entire post.

Here is my previous post.
Very interesting reading from Baltimore Sun TV critic David Zurawik.

Media folk are tripping over each other these days to tell their audiences how cool they think Twitter is and how deeply they are into Twitter culture. Maybe so. But here’s a fascinating fact from a new Nielsen survey: Three out of every five users who sign up for Twitter drop out by the second month. That is only a 40 percent retention rate — much lower than that for Facebook and MySpace. It makes you wonder how satisfying users are really finding Twitter.

Or, maybe the question is: How short are the attention spans of some of these users?

Here’s a link to the Nielsen study along with a nice graphic of the steep decline in second-month use: http://blog.nielsen.com/nielsenwire/online_mobile/twitter-quitters-post-roadblock-to-long-term-growth

During last fall’s presidential election campaign I became a big fan of NBC’s Chuck Todd.

As a local NBC News Director, I got access to a lot of the political backgrounding Todd and the NBC political unit was producing. The information was fascinating, but the unassuming guy behind it all was absolutely engaging.  Here was a guy like me, explaining the race in clear, easy to understand terms. Apparently, I wasn’t the only one to see his potential.

Now,PoliticsDaily points out President Obama isn’t the only one being critiqued on his first 100 days.

PD talked with some Todd fans, AKA: the Chuckolytes, whose borderline obsession with the goateed analyst during the election seems to have carried over as Todd takes on the White House role.

“Last year, (Todd) was ecstatic providing analysis from his comfort zone,” said Paul Chamberlain, 41, who coined the “Chuckolyte” moniker, created the logo at right and launched VivaChuckTodd, one of several web homages to the goateed reporter. “Now he’s been put into this incredibly rigid environment, but I can see him hitting his stride.” (For Todd’s own thoughts on his first 100 days, see “100 Days of Chuck Todd.”)

Elizabeth Cohen, a doctoral student in media studies at Georgia State University, followed ChuckToddsGoate on Twitter during the campaign season and shared Chamberlain’s initial mixed feelings about Todd’s move to the White House. “Maybe I didn’t like thinking of Chuck as a reporter, since I thought of him more as a professor.”

Cohen has made the switch, too, and now watches Robert Gibbs’ press briefings in hopes of a Chuck Todd sighting. “I didn’t pay attention to White House correspondents before him, but now I watch the briefings and wait for Chuck to get called on.”

The Pew Research Center for the People & the Press is out with a report sure to raise hackles in some quarters.

In it’s  regular monthly poll on politics and major policy issues, the center reports that when Americans are asked to assess television news coverage of Barack Obama, Fox News Channel stands out from other networks for being too critical of the president.

Nearly three-in-ten (29%) select Fox when asked which of six broadcast and cable news networks have been too critical of the new Democratic president, a far greater share than any other network, said Pew.

In contrast, no one TV network is singled out for being too easy on Obama.

Each of five networks (CNN, MSNBC, NBC, ABC and CBS) was named by about one in six respondents in this regard.

Again, the Fox News Network stands apart – just 5% named Fox as being too easy on the president.
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Getting started with online video

One of the hottest topics at this week’s Radio-Television News Directors Association convention in Las Vegas is the move toward Multi-platform reporting. While much of the talk in Vegas is preparing journalists for this new reality, Steve Mort is talking practical advice and technique on his new blog, The One Man Band Reporter.

Mort is a journalist, producer, videographer and editor based in Orlando. Among Steve’s pearls, “Shooting a standup is an art in of itself. But shooting your own standup, ie., trying to be in front of and behind the camera at the same time, is challenging. The key is to get the basics right so it doesn’t look/sound woeful – and check the results before packing up and leaving the location.”

SOCIAL MEDIA

Many conference attendees are blogging and tweeting the sessions. Mizzou’s Jen Reeves is bullish on what Facebook offers journalists.

“Facebook is savvy with its product pages. Not only does it give you the opportunity to promote your newsroom’s brand, you can get creative, promote and track the activity on your page.  What’s even better, Facebook has written up how to do it. It’s very smart”, says Reeves in her blog, Jen Reeves – New Media Mind.

TWITTER

News Directors are learning about Twitter for Journalists.   Even panelists have been caught while presenting!

Turnout among News Directors is down this year, but enthusiastic students are filling the void.
Steve Safran noted,

“At the Monday morning session, “Moving Content Across Platforms,” the room was packed – standing room only – and the face of the room was, well, young. I know we often write “I hate to generalize,” but the generalization is apt. The young journalists are investing in themselves. There are far fewer media managers here.”

Hope to post links to some of the presentations, powerpoints, and videos as the week goes on.  Stay tuned!

So many of you loved my posts on Twitter Definitions, I wanted you to see this even bigger collection. Griff

Twictionary: The Dictionary for Twitter! A repository for the meanings and manglings of words and language on Twitter

Anyone May Contribute an entry, or suggest with Quick Submit See right sidebar for more info Please follow twitter.com/shoq for news and updates or Direct Message for help.

Term	Definition	Who Coined it? (Please link to tweet)	Who Defined It (Link @twiiterName)
140ism	A miscommunication in 140 characters or fewer. Often when 140 characters were not enough.	@brianglanz	@brianglanz
Attwaction	A crush (intellectual or physical) on a fellow twitterer.	@Twaitting	@Twaitting
Attwacker	Someone that verbally assaults someone on Twitter.  A.K.A., a Twamer (one who flames someone)	@paradoxadguy	@ParadoxAdGuy
Atwention	A condition of readiness or availability through direct communication on Twitter.	@paradoxadguy	@ParadoxAdGuy
Bacontwits	A twitter message involving everyone’s favorite cut of meat…bacon.	BaconTwits
BackTwound	A custom Twitter Background for business or personal use.	@BackTwounds	@BackTwounds
Celebritweet	A celebrity who uses Twitter.	@calliekimball	@wordspy
Chirpes	A Canarial Disease for which there is no known Tweetment	TeresitaMercado
Chirpologist	A subspecialty of Featherology dealing specifically with the diagnosis, care and tweetment of Chirpes	@mmlinke1	@mmlinke1

SEE THE ENTIRE TWITTER DICTIONARY HERE!!  (THIS SITE HAS NO CONNECTION TO “OUTSIDE THE NEWS BOX” OTHER THAN THE FACT I LOVE THIS STUFF!)

By Andy Fixmer

April 16 (Bloomberg) — Instead of paying for reruns of “Seinfeld” at 11 p.m. and “Access Hollywood” at 4:30 a.m., News Corp.’s WJBK-TV in Detroit decided to air more local news.

Since making the changes last year, the Fox station’s late- night news is attracting 65 percent more viewers ages 18 to 49, those most sought by marketers, according to Nielsen Co. data. The morning newscast is up 33 percent.

TV station owners, facing a record drop in advertising, are pushing their news crews to fill expanded schedules, allowing programmers to eliminate more costly syndicated programs such as “Dr. Phil.” In Los Angeles and San Francisco, stations are adding as much as 12 hours of news a week to schedules.
READ ENTIRE ARTICLE HERE

Two recent reports on the health of television and film industry offer me hope.

While U.S. ad spending is expected to drop 8.7% this year, TV is being hurt less than other media.

ZenithOptimedia’s forecast for spending on advertising this year shows television ad outlays falling by 5.5% in 2009. No one likes negative growth, but this year’s TV’s market share is expected to rise to 38.6%, versus 31.8% the previous year. The forecast has TV’s market share hitting a record high of 39.3% by 2010.

“Advertisers that cut budgets across the board will often cut television last, since they know it best and are convinced of its effectiveness,” the report stated. “The medium may also be benefitting from the fact that people are spending more time at home and watching more TV.”

And, going to movies. Business is booming at the nation’s movie theaters. Revenue and ticket sales are each up about 10 percent over the first quarter of last year.

This goes along with what I have been saying about this media meltdown. The wrong approach is to strip away our best talent, and with them, our ability to produce quality product. When the story is good, people will watch it. Now is not the time to cut back for short term gain, now is the time to seize audience share. Do we really think we can’t beat newspapers at the online video game? Advertising dollars moving the the web? Then, why will big firms pay millions for a Superbowl ad?

The key is quality programming and engaging storytelling.

Camera Phone video for television news is quickly reaching critical mass. This is a trend your station can’t afford to ignore.

Ken Elmore from Audience Research and Development turned me on to a great combination of the Blackberry Curve and a new service called Qik. In his blog, Ken said:

I love it when someone figures out the potential of what the web gives us and applies it to day-to-day newsgathering. WCBD-TV
in Charleston, SC leads the way in using social media to deliver
information to its users and viewers. Count on 2 launched a new initiative using Qik. Each of its multimedia journalists carry Blackberry Curve phones and each have their own Qik account.

Here is a link to a sample from reporter Larry Collins, covering a recent festival which draws thousands to the area.

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