71% of tweets ignored

Let’s add this to the stat-that-will-be-bandied-about-all-day file (or we can also call it the Wired article that launched a thousand self-righteous posts from social media experts). According to Wired who is reporting on a study from a social analytics firm:

• 71% of tweets get no response
• 6% of tweets are retweeted (and 92% of that happens within the first hour)
• 23% of tweets are @ replied

Is measuring retweets and replies an accurate measurement of engagement? I’d wager there are millions of tweets with links that get clicked or that are read without any actual response from the clicker/reader. That’s hardly ignored, right?