Twitter intermittent and permanent discontinuance: A multi-method approach to study innovation diffusion

Early studies tend to follow a simple, generic approach to define intermittent discontinuance and permanent discontinuance without considering the unique life cycle, turnover rate, and user base of one innovation. This study uses a multi-method approach to study Twitter use discontinuance: First, a computational analysis of the “big data” drawn from Twitter (N = 28,404 accounts) to generate a benchmark—103 days (roughly 3.5 months)—to define whether a Twitter user is a continuing adopter, an intermittent discontinuer, or a permanent discontinuer; and second, a user survey (N = 419) to examine distinctive demographic, behavioral, and psychographic characteristics among these three groups. Results showed that the odds of being a permanent discontinuer, compared with intermittent discontinuers, increases when an individual is younger, has lower levels of innovativeness, perceived usefulness, and perceived ease of use, but has a higher level of social burden.