Active tweeters on Twitter are no longer as active as they used to be, and people who use the site regularly have markedly different interests than in years past.
This is reported in internal documents made available to Reuters.
The documents define an “active tweeter” as someone who visits the site daily and tweets three to four times a week.
Active tweeters are a small but valuable segment of Twitter users, accounting for less than 10% of active users per month while generating 90% of all tweets and global revenue.
The rapid decline in activity among Twitter fans began during the pandemic. As we’ll explore later in this article, there has been a significant decline in activity on topics that were once the most popular categories on Twitter.
Where the heavy tweeters are going and why they are leaving is unclear, although we can make some assumptions based on recent data.
Tweets are going away, users’ interests are changing
While active tweeters are letting their accounts go dormant, those who remain active are gravitating toward topics Twitter is not traditionally known for.
Reuters reports that interest in once-popular topics such as news, sports and entertainment has declined. Twitter is also losing many active users interested in fashion and celebrities.
Some of Twitter’s most popular topics among English-speaking users now include cryptocurrency and unsafe-to-work content.
Are active tweeters leaving because users’ interests are changing? Or are interests changing because heavy tweeters are leaving?
The report never says so, though Reuters spoke with a Twitter spokesperson who stressed that the total number of monthly users is growing.
Twitter is still attracting new users, even though the most active ones are moving away from the site. In the next section, we’ll look at where they may be headed.
Where are the heavy tweeters going?
In internal documents obtained by Reuters, a Twitter researcher suggests that the decline in activity around topics such as fashion and celebrity may be related to Instagram and TikTok.
Previously, active Twitter users were interested in cybersports and streamers. Now their activity is likely shifting toward video-oriented websites such as Twitch, YouTube and TikTok.
What about news? Twitter used to be the de facto platform for tracking the latest news.
You might be surprised to learn that the activity around news is shifting to TikTok as well.
The Pew Research Center released a study this week showing that a growing percentage of U.S. adults regularly receive news about TikTok.
The report states:
“In just two years, the share of U.S. adults who say they receive news from TikTok regularly has roughly tripled, from 3 percent in 2020 to 10 percent in 2022.”
This timeline is consistent with reports of declining activity around Twitter news.
While it’s not enough to conclude that avid Twitter users are turning to TikTok for news, the data is worth looking at.
According to the study, 26% of American adults say they regularly receive news about TikTok, up from previous years.
One-third of American adults who use TikTok say they regularly receive news on the site.
In contrast, news consumption has declined or stayed the same on other social networking sites.