Twitter’s heavy tweeters aren’t as active as they used to be, and people who use the site regularly have markedly different interests than in years past.
This information is reportedly stated in internal documents obtained by Reuters.
The documents define a “heavy tweeter” as someone who logs into the site daily and tweets three to four times weekly.
Heavy tweeters are a small but 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 decline in activity among heavy tweeters began during the pandemic. As we’ll go over later in this article, there’s a significant drop in activity around topics that were once Twitter’s most popular categories.
Where the heavy tweeters are going and why they’re leaving is unclear, though we can make some assumptions based on recent data.
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.
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 news? Twitter used to be the de facto platform for following breaking news.
You may be surprised to learn that activity around news is shifting to TikTok as well.
Pew Research Center published a study this week showing a growing share of US adults regularly gets news on 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.”
That timeline matches the reported decline in activity around news on Twitter.
While this isn’t enough evidence to conclude avid Twitter users are instead turning to TikTok for news, the data is worth looking at.
According to the study, 26% of US adults say they regularly get news on TikTok, which is up from previous years.
A third of US adults who use TikTok say they regularly get news on the site.
In contrast, news consumption has declined or stayed the same on other social media sites.
Screenshot from: pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2022/10/21/more-americans-are-getting-news-on-tiktok-bucking-the-trend-on-other-social-media-sites/, October 2022.It will be interesting to see if Twitter does anything in response to the reported decline in activity among heavy tweeters.
Sources: Reuters, Pew Research Center
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