The risk is that Twitter would look at the 5.985 billion people NOT using Twitter as a potential gold mine and overlook the smaller but more loyal existing base. If they make decisions aimed at retaining the NEW users, those changes may not appeal to the old, LOYAL users.

All of that being said, I like your suggestions. I think they'll help everyone…

#2. I think the issue should be less about retaining Everyone, but retaining the appropriate audience. Your ideas are good and valuable. However, if they're used for everyone…

Think of it like this: Cell phones, heck, especially car phones, weren't for everyone. They marketed them to the audience that would use them first – people who traveled a lot, who needed to keep in touch with the office while away from the office. Then eventually, the usefulness became obvious to the larger market. Oh, I can call my husband at the store and call jimmy to tell him I'm late picking him up from soccer. Now ever mom, dad, business person, college kid and a crazy number of children under the age of 10 all have cell phones. But 20 years ago, people were all like, "why would I need a cell phone? I've got a home phone." Email had the same pattern of user growth, I imagine.

#3. One might argue it's not Twitter responsibility alone to improve retention. Now, in CLT we have a very open, active and welcoming community that connects via twitter. We have events nearly every week, in one part of the city or another, and there are constant plans to do new things together. Do other communities offer this kinda of value to their users? How can twitter facilitate such activities?

#4. I agree that making twitter easy to use and easier to understand offers Twitter a higher likelihood of retention, but I'd argue that while it's their responsibility there may be thousands of users who don't want more users who are just "telling us what they had for breakfast" but should Twitter retain more users, they should add value and interest to the community, offer something in return. Twitter may need more then a change to the ease of entry, but a public opinion make-over because of the clear misunderstanding a number of people in the media have of it's services. If I hear one more person tell me "whats the point of twitter, I don't care that you're having a hamburger?" I may never again mention that I use Twitter. (Okay, that's not true, but I'll be less eager to mention it.)

I am not talking about \”commercialization\” in my suggestions. I am talking about retaining customers. If when you say commercialization you mean Twitter treating users like customers, I think this type of thinking would only improve the service. Twitter is a business with millions of dollars invested. When is it smart for a business not to try to retain new customers?

These are some good suggestions for improving Twitter, particularly the ones about improving relevance. Twitter used to have some of that built into its user search, but did away with it. A shame, too…it was one of the most useful functions, IMO.

I like the "Suggested Users" idea, too, although I'm not too interested in Twitter's "User Guide". Like anything in social media, the best ideas for how to get more out of Twitter come from the user community. Any how-to or best practices tutorial Twitter creates will be woefully outdated by tomorrow. The users are the innovators, not the company, and Twitter will never be able to keep up with the cool ideas we come up with.

Of course, all of this is an aside. You know my theory: Beware any changes aimed at retaining the newest 15 million customers at the risk of alienating your first 15 million. Drive away your rabid fans and you'll have bigger problems.