Can Twitter Live Up to its Pre-IPO Hype? (TWTR)

While investors wait for Twitter's impending IPO, expected as early as next month, a new survey suggests the microblogging and social networking site may be facing a consumer plateau.

A recently-released Reuters/Ipsos online survey of nearly 1,100 people who have joined Twitter (NYSE: TWTR) says over one-third do not use the site and seven percent have shut their accounts. The so-called “Twitter Quitters” tell Reuters they've given up on the site for a number of reasons – including confusion on how to properly use the service and a lack of friends on the site.

Twitter would not comment on the poll, telling Reuters the company “is in a quiet period ahead of its IPO.” But the blogosphere has been lit up for some time now with stories questioning whether Twitter's user growth was living up to its hype.

But at least one analyst wonders if Twitter can live up to investor expectations.

"Twitter is a great service, it's still got growth in front of it,” Dan Niles, chief investment officer of AlphaOne Capital Partners told Reuters. “But in my opinion, I would say the opportunities are less than that of Facebook, and it has to be valued appropriately.”

But “tweeting” still has a club-like atmosphere, and requires the new user to get used to using hashtags, Twitter-specific abbreviations and the site's unique user culture.

"If they want the mass adoption and that daily engagement,” he added, “they have to make it really easy for people to consume."