Nielsen made quite a lot of headlines a few months ago when it published data purporting to show that Twitter has very low retention rates (certainly compared with facebook and myspace). I was inclined to believe this, given that I'm a mild Twitter-sceptic myself (albeit a user). But I've just come across this counterblast that argues convincingly that Nielsen's analysis is flawed because it failed to take into account migration to third-party applications.
essential links
- marginal revolution
brilliant brainfood from an implausibly clever behavioral economist - five hot intellectual trends
a handy cheat's guide to what's going on out there... - mind hacks
a neuroscience and psychology blog that tells you something astonishing about the human condition virtually every day - lucid thoughts
stimulating musings on the relationship between neuroscience and marketing - the situationist
reports from the frontline of the new social sciences
essential books
steven johnson: everything bad is good for you
all of this man's books are essentialjames surowiecki: the wisdom of crowds
an intelligent, grown-up exploration of a fascinating subjectrobert cialdini: influence: the psychology of persuasion
a very influential book in every wayjonah lehrer: how we decide
a brilliant explanation of how our brains make up our minds.niccolo machiavelli: the prince
how to create a choice architecture for your subjects/clients
