The reality goes far beyond a few examples of celebrities hiding their accounts, according to an internal Twitter study reviewed by Reuters.
Twitter is struggling to retain its business-critical and most active users, highlighting the challenges Tesla Inc’s CEO is facing as he approaches the deadline for a $44 billion deal to acquire the company.
These “Active Twitter” make up less than 10% of all monthly users, but generate 90% of all tweets and half of global revenue. Since the outbreak of the pandemic, a Twitter researcher wrote in an internal paper titled “Where Did Twitter Go?” that the number of active Twitter “absolutely declined”.
The study also showed a shift in interest over the past two years among the most active English-speaking Twitter users, making the platform less attractive to advertisers.
According to the report, cryptocurrencies and NSFW (Not Safe for Work) content, including inappropriate content, are the most popular topics with active English-speaking users.
At the same time, these users are less interested in news, sports, and entertainment. Tweets on topics that have helped polish the image of the world’s “digital square” as Musk once called them are also the most coveted by advertisers.
Analyst Jasmine Enberg said in an investor letter that the platform generated more advertising revenue in the U.S. alone in the fourth quarter than all other markets combined, with most advertising in the U.S. likely to target English-speaking users.
According to the documentation, the theme that traditionally made Twitter a popular platform for millions of users is now in decline among the most active English speakers.
Twitter is also losing a “terrible” proportion of celebrities like the Kardashian family or active users interested in fashion. These users are more likely to move to compete for platforms like Meta Platforms Inc’s Instagram and ByteDance’s TikTok, the Twitter researchers say.
“It seems as though there is a significant discrepancy between what I might imagine are our company values and our growth patterns,” one Twitter researcher wrote.
According to internal documents, even the most active English-speaking Twitter users had an all-time high at the end of 2021 as interest in cryptocurrencies increased. However, interest in the topic has waned since the cryptocurrency price crash in June, and the study points out that cryptocurrencies may not be an area of growth in the future.
