# What are people tweeting about? Hmmm…. pointless babble apparently - Link: https://fundraising.co.uk/2009/08/21/what-are-people-tweeting-about-hmmm-pointless-babble-apparently/ - Published: 2009-08-21T11:04:46+01:00 - Author: Howard Lake The general wisdom that Twitter is great for conversations and self-promotions has been apparently overturned by a recent survey from Pear Analytics’ study of Twitter’s timeline.   According to a [recent news item in e-marketer daily](http://www.emarketer.com/Article.aspx?R=1007238) Pear Analytics placed each tweet in six categories and found that: ## Advertisement [⌊Posthub advert. You create the campaign. We'll handle the postal journey. Get started at post-hub.co.uk.⌉](https://fundraising.co.uk/ads/posthub-20261007-300x250/)   40.55% of tweets were pointless babble like ‘I am sitting in the sunshine’ or ‘I am eating sandwiches now’   37.59% of tweets were conversational   8.70% were pass along values – re-tweets spreading the news about something or another   5.85% was self promotion   and less than 4% was news   Interesting stuff indeed… I wonder which charities messages made it to the news or pass along values percentages?   People tend to pass along values and share news on Mondays and Wednesdays apparently– according to this research these are the days when the tweets in the above mentioned categories make up 10% of the tweets for those days…   And happy tweeting – but if you want to find out what I am up to you will have to use that old fashion object called a phone….   Redina Kolaneci wwww.mcconkey-johnston.co.uk   * **[Please have your say](https://fundraising.co.uk/2009/09/02/please-have-your-say/)**( 2 September 2009) * **[Failing MySpace drops behind Twitter in the UK](https://fundraising.co.uk/2009/09/11/failing-myspace-drops-behind-twitter-uk/)**( 11 September 2009) * **[Social Actions team launches Social Entrepreneur API](https://fundraising.co.uk/2009/09/11/social-actions-team-launches-social-entrepreneur-api/)**( 11 September 2009) ## Comments ### By: simonfrank - Link: https://fundraising.co.uk/2009/08/21/what-are-people-tweeting-about-hmmm-pointless-babble-apparently/#comment-3749 - Published: 2009-08-21T13:19:00+01:00 Can’t help wondering whether this isn’t just more pointless babble on the subject of pointless babble. Doesn’t writing about Twitter being pointless when you say you don’t actually use it rather undermine your point? David Letterman recently summed this position up very neatly: “When people don’t understand something, they feel threatened by it. They resort to ridiculing it.” For more to-the-point babble on this subject, can I refer you to our blog: [http://www.hellobeautifulworld.com/blog/why-its-worth-learning-to-write-for-twitter/](http://www.hellobeautifulworld.com/blog/why-its-worth-learning-to-write-for-twitter/) Also try Ken Burnett’s pithy article: [http://www.kenburnett.com/BlogTwitterElite.html](http://www.kenburnett.com/BlogTwitterElite.html) I’ll let Jonathan Waddingham’s recent tweet have the last word: “I read a study the other day that said 84.37% of phone conversations were pointless babble (i didn’t really).” [http://twitter.com/jon\_bedford/status/3404691844](http://twitter.com/jon_bedford/status/3404691844) ### By: Redina Kolaneci - Link: https://fundraising.co.uk/2009/08/21/what-are-people-tweeting-about-hmmm-pointless-babble-apparently/#comment-3750 - Published: 2009-08-23T20:36:23+01:00 I happen to disagree with you Simon – just because I chose not to use twitter it doesn’t mean that I don’t recommend it to charity clients or get them to use it sucessfully. The point I was trying to make with this piece was that: how can charities get across a valid message that is inspiring and gets others to act on it…through a medium where there is so much ‘babble’? I am not opposed to other people tweeting for a great cause…but personally I will not be part of something that aids the shortening of the attention span of fellow human beings 🙂 Thanks for pointing out the blogs and the article by Ken Burnett. Redina Kolaneci Senior Fundraising & Marketing Consultant McConkey/Johnston International UK [http://www.mcconkey-johnston.co.uk](http://www.mcconkey-johnston.co.uk)