Where are Twitter users going?
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As most Twitter users know, a significant portion of the social network’s value comes from all the interesting links that send users from one part of the Web to another.
Market-research firm Hitwise recently decided to see where all those Twitter users go when they leave Twitter.com. The firm found that most folks go to entertainment sites and other social networks.
According to Hitwise, about 60% of Twitter users go to entertainment sites or social networks after leaving Twitter.com. Out of that group, the majority of folks visit photo- or video-sharing sites.
That won’t surprise hard-core Twitter users. The social network is inundated with links directing users to a person’s images on photo-sharing services such as TwitPic, Tweetphoto and YFrog. YouTube is also a popular video destination link on Twitter.
After social networks, Hitwise found that about 7% of Twitter users surf to search engines, while 5% go to lifestyle sites. Just under 5% of users head to news sites.
All told, Hitwise found that destination sites are seeing a 138% uptick in visitors from Twitter.com compared with the same period last year.
In other words, Twitter isn’t the only site benefiting from its immense growth.
-- Don Reisinger