????人們對Twitter印象不佳往往是由關注的領域和瀏覽的內容決定的。常見的一種評價是：“誰關心哪位孤家寡人午餐吃的什么？”

????Twitter與其它形式的媒體包括別的社交網站不同，它的面貌是由用戶自身決定的。總的來說，Twitter頗為空虛無聊，因為上面的大部分活動都很空虛無聊。（只要看看Twitter上的熱門話題就能明白這一點。）但如果用戶是嚴謹的專業人士，主要將Twitter用于工作，則完全用不著每天盯著Twitter上空虛無聊的廢話。Twiiter是一個巨大的大雜燴，包含無數高度細分的社區，盡管各社區邊界極具滲透性。例如，經營音響器材的用戶可以自行決定關注的范圍，選擇僅僅關注行業內的用戶，同時只接受同行的關注。與一些青少年眼中的賈斯汀?比伯版Twitter相比，前者可謂是完全不同的世界。

????近日，英國創意網站Touch Agency發布了一系列與Twitter有關的數據，也許能從中一窺Twitter的商業價值。例如：《財富》雜志（Fortune）全球500強中前100位的公司，有88家至少每天都在更新其Twitter賬戶。此外，在Twitter上關注特定品牌的粉絲里，有四分之三的人更傾向于購買這些品牌的產品。

????此外，還有一些更為概括的數據，或許更出人意料。Twitter近70%的用戶在美國境外。Twiiter每秒鐘注冊的新賬號超過5個，每天則有大約45萬新賬號誕生。有一點需要說明的是，這些數據的可靠性并不一致，正如Touch公司所言，這些數據來自“一系列網絡來源”。無論如何，這些數字還是頗有意思的。

????譯者：項航

????Depending on where you go online and what you read, much of what you see about Twitter might be negative. "Who cares what some lonely guy had for lunch?" is one variation on a common refrain.

????But Twitter, unlike many other forms of media including other social sites, is what you make it. Taken as a whole, Twitter is silly and inane because most of what goes on there is silly and inane. (Just watch the trending topics.) But if you're a serious professional who uses Twitter mostly for work, you may not have to see very much of the silly and inane stuff at all. Twitter is a gigantic set of highly segregated neighborhoods, albeit ones with extremely permeable borders. If you're in the audio-equipment business, for example, you can follow and be followed by only people in that business should you choose to. Compared to some random pre-teen's Bieber-centric Twitter experience, it's a whole different world.

????A set of stats recently released by the British creative shop Touch Agency helps make the business case for Twitter. For instance: 88 of the companies on the Fortune Global 100 list update their Twitter accounts at least daily. And: Three-quarters of people who follow brands on Twitter are more likely to buy from that brand.

????Other, more-general stats might surprise. Some 70% of Twitter users are outside the United States. And, every second of every day, more than five new Twitter accounts are created, amounting to about 450,000 new accounts daily. One caveat: these numbers likely vary somewhat in reliability, collected as they were from as Touch puts it, "a range of online sources." Still, an interesting case for Twitter nonetheless.