Twitter is Losing Its Most Active Users

It has been reported that activity from the most active Twitter users has been declining, according to CNET. Internal research conducted by a third party shows that users who tweet the most have been posting less, which started since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.

"Active" users are accounts that log in six out of seven days and tweet at least three to four times a week. The active accounts make up approximately 10% of the platform's monthly users and generate 90% of all the tweets. The vast percentage of tweets from active users provides for half of Twitter's global revenue.

A spokesperson from the social media platform stated that their overall audience is continuing to grow, amassing 238 million monetizable daily active users (mDAU) in the second quarter of 2022.

Why Has It Been Declining

Reuters conducted research and found that interest in Twitter has changed. Lately, two of the highest-growing topics are those related to cryptocurrency and Not Safe For Work (NSFW) content. On the other hand, active topics in the past ,like news, entertainment, and sports, have been decreasing, which could prove to be bad news for the platform since it is the most desirable subject for advertisers.

Tweets about world news increased when there was an attack on the US Capitol back on January 6, 2021. Since then, interest has gone back down and has not recovered.

Demographics also play a huge part in Twitter's revenue. Jasmine Enberg, an analyst at Insider Intelligence, stated that most ads in the US are targeting English-speakers. It also mentions in the platform's investor letter that it earned more ad revenue solely from the US in its fourth quarter compared to all the other markets combined.

Advertisers tend to avoid controversial topics like NSFW content since it may damage their brand. NSFW content makes up 13% of Twitter's overall content, and research found that active users have been leaning toward it and cryptocurrency as well.

Cryptocurrency topics were gaining traction, reaching their highest in late 2021, although the crypto price crash in June made the interest in the topic decline.

Back on April 9, 2022, Elon Musk quoted a tweet and expressed that the most-followed accounts have been tweeting less and posting very little content. In the thread, he mentioned that Taylor Swift had not posted anything in three months, and Justin Bieber only posted once in the entire year.

Twitter Competition

One of the reasons that Twitter might be losing active users is due to other prominent platforms. People who are interested in fashion or personalities like the Kardashians may opt for Instagram or TikTok instead. After all, fashion speaks more with pictures and clips rather than words.

Interest in e-sports and online streaming personalities has also decreased. There are other platforms that are more suitable for streaming. For live streaming, Twitch and Facebook might be the better option for content, as well as YouTube.