Marketing Pilgrim Published: “95% of Twitter Accounts Created Since January 2009” plus 3 more

95% of Twitter Accounts Created Since January 2009
Will There Be 50% More Vacant Cubicle Space at Myspace Due to Layoffs?
Facebook Grabs a Whopping 44% of “Shared” Content; MySpace Declines 27%
In True Groupon Fashion; 68% of $500M VC Round Going to Groupon’s Wallet

95% of Twitter Accounts Created Since January 2009

Posted: 31 Dec 2010 04:44 AM PST

From the "Did You Know?" category comes the statistic claimed by a report from Sysomos that says that 95% of the current Twitter accounts were created after January of 2009. So for you folks who had your claim before that time you were officially 'way ahead of the curve' to one degree or another. Here is chart that shows this growth. (Thanks to PCMag for bringing this to our attention).

Of course, I always want to know just how many of these accounts are placeholders to protect from Twitter handle squatters or names of small businesses who are still thinking about getting involved but that's for another time.

The Sysomos report also showed some interesting charts relating to a variety of element in Twitter that are being utilized much more today.

One of my favorites was this one.

It's Twitter's version of the 80/20 rule. That rule says that 80% of your revenue comes from 20% of your customers. In Twitter terms it's the 90/20 rule where 90% of tweets come from about 20% of the users. Of course, this says nothing about the value of the tweets or if they are bot generated so while it’s a fun thing to look at the real value lies in determining which of that 20% are real people and provide real value.

Check out the study to make your own call as to whether Twitter is a vast wasteland of nothingness or a platform for action.

Will There Be 50% More Vacant Cubicle Space at Myspace Due to Layoffs?

Posted: 31 Dec 2010 04:00 AM PST

It never feels good to write about this kind of thing around the new year but if there is one thing about writing about business one learns that it can be heartless at times.

Myspace, the perpetually troubled former social networking high flyer, is reportedly looking into the possibility of laying off up to to 50% of its existing staff of 1,000 employees. Liz Gannes from the NetworkEffect at All Things Digital reports:

While the decision of what cuts to make to its employee base have not been made yet, nearly the entire Myspace staff was given the last week of December off from work to save money.

Sources stressed that management was still working out the details of more drastic cost-cutting measures that owner News Corp. has been wanting from Myspace, as its revenues and traffic growth have declined.

The layoffs are also part of a larger rethink about the future of the Beverly Hills, Calif.-based company, which has had many difficulties in recent years. That has included several upheavals in its leadership and a talent drain, as well as stagnant growth.

Myspace has continued to get smaller and smaller in the rearview mirror of the frontrunner in the social space, Facebook, and that trend doesn't seem to be letting up. Couple this continued decline in Myspace overall with the rise of microblogging (Twitter), location based services (Foursquare) and daily deal monster (Groupon) that are grabbing headlines every day and Myspace looks more and more like social networking footnote.

I have never really given Myspace a fair shake personally. When it was hot I simply didn't care about social media. Now that social media is all the rage and there is value coming out of it, what Myspace is offering around music is just not where I fit. As a result, I haven't truly watched the social network deteriorate like many readers may have.

Along those lines, it would be interesting if anyone who uses Myspace in its present form would tell us in the comments as well as those who once were Myspace users but have moved on to other things.

Once again, while these layoffs are rumored by sources this is a very bad signal for anyone related to the company. Not the way to be starting a new year for sure.

Facebook Grabs a Whopping 44% of “Shared” Content; MySpace Declines 27%

Posted: 30 Dec 2010 01:56 PM PST

If you are working today then, let’s be honest, you’re not really working. Right?

It’s the day before New Year’s Eve and your mind has already checked-out. So, rather than an in-depth, verbose post about how internet users are sharing online content, how about some eye-candy from AddThis instead?

(via)

In True Groupon Fashion; 68% of $500M VC Round Going to Groupon’s Wallet

Posted: 30 Dec 2010 01:20 PM PST

Just how close Google was to handing over $6 billion for Groupon, no one can say for sure. What we do know is that Groupon has converted that interest (or perception of such) into a cool $500 million in venture capital funding!

According to an SEC filing (reported by Fortune.com), Groupon has found $500M of the $950M it is hoping to raise. What’s the purpose of such funds? Well, a good chunk of it will go towards a cashout for shareholders…

One purpose of Groupon’s massive new round is to provide liquidity for existing shareholders, including those who may have been ticked off that the company spurned Google. Fortune has learned that all Groupon shareholders recently received a letter offering to buy back up to 15% of current stock holdings, and the SEC filing indicates that $345 million of the $500 million will be used to cash out insiders (both investors and management).

Yes sir, there it is in black and white:

Of course, this is where we get to insert some random joke about how Groupon’s investors are subject to the same ridiculously high revenue split as the coupon company’s customers.

Oh, and I appear to be in the wrong business. Brokering venture capital deals is where the easy money is. Check out the amount of commission being paid to the company that put this deal together!