Many social platforms of the “Ancient Times”(2006-2010) have evolved so much that they are almost unrecognizable today, but the Twitter microblogging experience has remained largely the same. Why? Because it works.
That’s not to say that Twitter hasn’t changed over the years – it has, especially as a business marketing tool. But the way brands use Twitter has largely remained the same: to quickly inform users of what’s going on, whether it’s an international crisis or a local, highly specialized event.
And to connect people with your business.
These are the latest Twitter stats and trends you need to know to get the most out of your Twitter marketing campaigns in 2023.
General Twitter statistics
1. Twitter is on track to break even in 2023, Musk says
2022 has been a year of massive change for Twitter, including a change in ownership. While official earnings reports are only available for half of 2022 so far, there are reports of revenues falling as much as 35% in 2022 compared to 2021.
Even if this turns out to be true, it will not be an isolated case. Twitter has seen a decline in revenue over the years, although their overall results have been on a positive growth trajectory. In 2021, Twitter made just over $5 billion. The company has not received an annual profit since 2019.
In 2022, Twitter launched new features to diversify its revenue beyond ads, including Twitter Blue subscriptions, multiple media formats, collaborative tweets, an edit button, and more.
Will Elon Musk’s prediction for 2023 come true? Time will show.
The last 3 months have been extremely tough as Twitter has to be saved from bankruptcy by doing the core duties of Tesla and SpaceX. I don’t wish this kind of pain on anyone.
Twitter is still in trouble but is now aiming to break even if we continue like this. Community support is greatly appreciated!
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 5, 2023
2. The most followed Twitter account is @BarackObama.
Former US President Obama has been number one for several years now with over 133 million followers. Longtime popular users Justin Bieber, Rihanna and Katy Perry are still in the top 5, but new in 2023 is current Twitter owner Elon Musk, who came in second with 127 million followers.
3. Twitter is the 6th most popular social platform in the US based on the number of active users.
In a recent survey of mobile users, 52% of Americans interacted with the Twitter app during the study period, ranking it in sixth place.
4. Twitter is the seventh most popular social network in the world.
Twitter has held steady at number seven since 2021.
The percentage of people aged 16 to 64 who identify each of the top 10 platforms as their favorite has remained relatively constant, although the number of Instagram and WhatsApp competitors has declined slightly since the first quarter of 2022, at 0.3% and 0.4%, respectively. In contrast, Twitter’s popularity grew by 0.2% during 2022.
5. As CEO of Twitter, Elon Musk has a 34% approval rating.
It’s no secret that Musk’s leadership is divisive among Twitter users, with some applauding his decisions and others disagreeing.
But a February 2023 poll showed Musk’s public approval rating as CEO increased to 34%, up from 30% before he bought Twitter. Although there was almost the same jump of 5% among those who disapprove.
Source: YouGov
By comparison, only 18% of Americans currently approve of the way Congress does its job.
twitter user statistics
6. Twitter usage among Generation Z is growing 30% faster than Instagram.
Sound the alarm: Generation Z doesn’t hate Twitter.
42% of Americans aged 12 to 34 now use Twitter, up from 29% in 2020—an increase of 36.6% in two years. By comparison, Instagram usage increased by just 5.7% over the same period.
Source: Edison Research
The oldest Gen Zers are about 25 years old in 2023, so these Twitter stats might be skewed by those pesky millennials in the higher age range. However, it does provide food for thought.
The lesson here is to make sure data drives your social media marketing strategy. We come across so many “Generation Z only cares about TikTok” ideas that it’s easy to accept it as a fact. While your specific Gen Z audience may not be on Twitter, be sure to test this hypothesis first, Dr. Viral.
7. Twitter users follow an average of 405 accounts.
People who post more than five tweets per month follow an average of 405 accounts, while those who post less frequently follow an average of 105 accounts.
8. 62.9% of Twitter users are men.
This poll did not report options for non-binary people, so it does not cover the full spectrum of gender for all Twitter users. However, this illustrates the wide gender gap on Twitter.
Source: Statistics
This gap will only widen in 2023. In 2022, 56.4% of Twitter users identified as male and 43.6% as female, a much closer ratio.
9. Twitter has the largest gender gap of any social platform.
Again, this statistic only represents those who identify as male or female, with no other options included. But it’s useful to compare these numbers to other popular social platforms to better understand Twitter’s demographics.
Source: Statistics
10. Users aged 18 to 34 love Twitter the most.
A total of 41% of users aged 18 to 34 view Twitter as either “very positive”(16%) or “relatively positive”(25%). Although this age range represents not only generation Z, but also most of it.
The second largest age group are users aged 35-44, of whom 38% have a “very positive”(11%) and “relatively positive”(27%) attitude towards Twitter.
Both age groups include a fair amount of millennials, so make sure you optimize your Twitter strategy for this aging, compelling population.
11. 23% of US Twitter users list their work on their profile.
Job title or industry is the most popular thing American adults say about themselves in their Twitter profile bio, with roughly one in four users including this information.
Other popular profile mentions include hobbies (12%), family relationships (8%) and political views (6%).
Source: Pew Research.
Twitter usage statistics
12. Twitter is the most popular social platform for news and current events.
The appeal of Twitter has always been that it’s concise and real-time, and that’s true today: 61.2% of people say Twitter is where they go to keep up with news and events.
Brands can capitalize on this by posting live conference messages and creating event hashtags to retweet attendees and start conversations with them.
13. 23% of users say most of their tweets are political.
Nearly half (45%) of Americans say they have tweeted about a political or social issue in the past 12 months, but for 23% of users, political tweets are a way of life. A study analyzing the content of over 1 million tweets found that approximately one-third, or 33%, were political .
14. People spend an average of 4.4 hours a month on Twitter.
According to a recent study, users spend an average of 1.1 hours per week on Twitter, which equates to 4.4 hours per month. While this may seem small compared to TikTok’s claimed 9.8 hours per week, Twitter’s average demographics and audience are quite different from TikTok.
Not sure if your ideal audience is on Twitter? Check out the latest Twitter demographics for 2023.
Source: Statistics
15. 66% of links posted on Twitter by leading accounts lead to print, television or electronic news sources.
Two-thirds of the links shared by prominent Twitter users pointed to print, TV and electronic media, while only 5% of links to alternative platforms such as Truth Social, Parler and others did so.
Perhaps this is because Twitter itself is also a mainnet, although the large gap suggests an underlying ideological difference.
Source: Pew Research.
16. The average organic engagement rate on Twitter is 0.05%.
Makes you dream of the serene days of double-digit engagement rates in 2013, huh?
No need to be afraid: it’s easy to surpass 0.05% with the right Twitter content strategy, network effort, and time. (And hey, you can always run ads for a little boost if needed.)
Source: Statistics
Not sure what your average engagement rate is? Find out with our free engagement rate calculator or try Hootsuite and it will automatically calculate your numbers and show you how to improve.
17. Using video in tweets increases engagement by up to 33%.
Tweets with organic video perform 33% better than tweets with text. Should every tweet be a video? No. But don’t be afraid to experiment with different media formats to see which one produces the best results.
For that extra special boost, Twitter video ads can increase total video views by up to 95% and increase total video time by 84%.
Twitter for business statistics
18. 89% of people use Twitter to find new products.
When you think about e-commerce marketing, Twitter may not come first, but users are open to discovering new products and services.
Get the most out of this:
- Enroll in the Twitter Shopping beta program if eligible. (Currently for physical-only US companies with expansion plans.)
- Incorporating Twitter into marketing partnerships with influencers by finding Twitter creators and providing Twitter-optimized content is one of your results.
- Trying Twitter Ads. Not sure where to start? See our beginner’s guide to Twitter advertising.
19. 50% of people aged 16 to 24 use social media to research brands.
While not exclusive to Twitter, this is a fundamental shift in how people use the internet to make purchasing decisions. For decades, SEO has reigned as we have relied on search engines like Google to solve the mystery of everything from “Should I check this mole?”(fu and yes) to “What’s the best social media scheduling tool?”(Hootsuit).
For the first time in history, it rains mentions?
Dubbed “social SEO,” the practice of turning to social media instead of search engines isn’t limited to Generation Z. Millennials are following them, with almost half of them using social media in the same way as more than a third of people aged 45-54. too much.
Want to cash out? Step one: be on social media. Spirit. Step two: Always use ALT text. This improves accessibility and serves your “social SEO rankings”well. You can add ALT text to Hootsuite when scheduling posts.
Oh step three? Read Social Trends 2023 to learn more about key strategies.
20. 76% of users say they bought something based on conversations on Twitter.
The structure of the comment thread on Twitter lends itself well to interactions where one tweet can spark an entire conversation. Whether you’re answering someone’s question publicly in a tweet thread or via a private DM, the fast, conversational nature of Twitter feels like a personalized experience in both.
21. Only 43% of marketers promote their business on Twitter.
No, Twitter’s ad reach is not the largest and the platform is not suitable for all types of businesses. But if your people are on Twitter, then so are you.
Fewer marketers means less competition in everything from organic reach to brand building activities. Learn the ins and outs of the Twitter algorithm and learn how to create a winning Twitter marketing strategy to take your business to the next level.
Source: Statistics
22. 28% of marketers plan to use Twitter more.
Many brands are still working to establish themselves on social media like TikTok, but don’t forget the trusted Twitter.
When asked about plans for the next 12 months, almost a third (28%) of marketers said they plan to use Twitter more.
twitter ad stats
23. Monetized daily active users (mDAUs) grew by 16.6% in 2022 to almost 238 million users.
mWhat? Twitter defines a monetized user (mDAU) as an account that physically logs in daily and is not a bot. These users can be monetized because they see ads on Twitter after logging in.
This figure is expected to continue to rise as Twitter continues to develop new advertising and e-commerce features in 2023.
24. Twitter ads can reach 544.5 million people.
This is a 12% jump in the third quarter of 2022 compared to the second quarter of 2022, or an increase of 58 million people, and an overall increase of 24.7% compared to last year.
25. Twitter advertising reaches 10.7% of all Internet users.
This goes on to represent 6.8% of the total world population and 8.7% of all people aged 13 and over. Population estimates that there are about 5 billion people over the age of 15 in the world, which means that Twitter ads could reach about 445 million of them.
A single digit ad reach percentage might not seem impressive, but 8.7% is a massive 50% increase, which means about 145 million more people – from 2020, when Twitter ads reached only 5.8% of people aged 13 and older.
26. Twitter ads reach 32% of Americans aged 13 and over.
That’s 91.7 million Americans, though it’s by no means the largest enrollment percentage of any country. Twitter ads reach a whopping 60.4% of Japanese ages 13+ and 38% of people aged 13+ in the United Kingdom.
27. Twitter ads reach almost 3 times more men than women.
I mentioned earlier that in 2023 almost 63% of Twitter’s audience identify themselves as male and 37% as female. Ad reach on Twitter is even more skewed towards male users.
Twitter ads reach 74.3% of male users, but only 25.7% of female users.
Why even greater gap? We’re not sure, although you can target your Twitter ads based on gender (currently only male or female options) for more accuracy.
Twitter post stats
28. Record 20,000 tweets per second during the World Cup.
Elon Musk announced this milestone on November 23, 2022.
World Cup traffic today reached almost 20,000 tweets per second! Great job by the Twitter team on record usage management.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 23, 2022
If this were true for every second of a 24-hour period, there would be over 1.7 billion tweets per day.
29. You can post up to 2400 tweets per day.
I mean…does anyone need more? Seriously though, Twitter has a few restrictions that help reduce potential spam from bots.
Want the highest possible reach on Twitter? Use Hootsuite’s Best Time to Post feature to automatically schedule your 2,399 tweets per day for the best time for your audience to see them.
