Heavy tweeters have been in ‘absolute downfall’ since the beginning of the pandemic
Twitter’s heavy tweeters aren’t as active as they used to be pre pandemic, and people who use the site regularly have markedly different interests than in years past.
This information is reportedly stated in the internal documents as obtained by Reuters.
The documents define a “heavy tweeter” as someone who logs into the site on a daily basis and tweets three to four times weekly.
Heavy tweeters are basically in a small quantity but as valuable segment of Twitter users, accounting for less than 10% of monthly active users while generating 90% of all tweets and global revenue.
The rapid downfall in activity among heavy tweeters started to begin during the pandemic. As we’ll move further in this article, there’s a significant drop in activity around topics that were once Twitter’s most popular categories.
So you must have this question going over in your mind that Where the heavy tweeters are going and why they’re leaving is unclear, though we can make some assumptions based on recent data.
The research also found a shift in interests over the past two years among Twitter’s most active English-speaking users that could make the platform less attractive to advertisers.
Cryptocurrency and “not safe for work” (NSFW) content, which includes nudity and pornography, are the highest-growing topics of interest among English-speaking heavy users, the report found.
At the same time, interest in news, sports and entertainment is increasing among those users. Tweets on those topics, which have helped Twitter burnish an image as the world’s “digital town square,” as Musk once called it, are also the most desirable for advertisers.
Twitter declined to specify how many of its tweets are in English or how much money it makes from English speakers. But the demographic is important to Twitter’s business, some analysts say.
The platform earned more ad revenue from the United States alone than all other markets combined in its fourth quarter, according to its investor letter, and most ads in the United States are likely targeting English-speaking users, said Jasmine Enberg, an analyst at Insider Intelligence.
Twitter’s study examined the number of heavy tweeters in English who displayed an interest in a topic, based on the accounts they followed, and how that number of users changed over the past two years.
Heavy Tweeters Leaving, User Interests Changing
As heavy tweeters let their accounts sit idle, those who remain active gravitate toward topics for which Twitter isn’t traditionally known.
Reuters reports that interest in once-popular topics such as news, sports, and entertainment is down. Twitter is also losing many heavy users interested in fashion and celebrities.
Some of Twitter’s most popular topics among English-speaking users now include cryptocurrency and not-safe-for-work content.
Are heavy tweeters leaving because user interests are changing? Or are interests changing as a result of the heavy tweeters leaving?
That’s never made clear in the report, though Reuters spoke with a Twitter representative who emphasized overall monthly users are growing.
Twitter is still attracting new users even though its most active ones are taking a step back from the website. In the next section, we’ll look at where they might be going.
Where Are The Heavy Tweeters Going?
In the internal documents obtained by Reuters, a Twitter researcher suggests the decline in activity around topics like fashion and celebrities can be attributed to Instagram and TikTok.
The report states:
“In just two years, the share of U.S. adults who say they regularly get news from TikTok has roughly tripled, from 3% in 2020 to 10% in 2022.”
Previously, e-sports and streaming personalities were growing areas of interest among heavy Twitter users. Now, their activity is likely shifting toward video-friendly websites such as Twitch, YouTube, and TikTok.
What about the news? Twitter used to be the de facto platform for following breaking news.
You may be surprised to learn that activity around the news is shifting to TikTok as well.
Pew Research Center published a study this week showing a growing share of US adults regularly getting news on TikTok.
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