Twitter’s Most Active Users Have Reportedly Stopped Tweeting

Twitter heavy tweeters aren’t as active as they once were, and people who use the site regularly have markedly different interests than they did in years past.

This information was reportedly mentioned in internal documents obtained by Reuters.

The documentation defines a “heavy tweeter” as someone who logs into the site daily and tweets three to four times per week.

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 global tweets and revenue.

The rapid decline in activity among heavy speakers 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 one of the most popular categories on Twitter.

It’s unclear where the heavy tweeters are going and why they’re leaving, though we can make some assumptions based on recent data.

Leave the heavy speakers, changing user interests

As heavy tweeters leave their accounts idle, those who remain active gravitate toward topics Twitter isn’t traditionally known for.

Reuters reported that interest in once-popular topics such as news, sports, and entertainment has declined. Twitter is also losing many big users who are interested in fashion and celebrities.

Some of the most popular topics on Twitter among English-speaking users right now include cryptocurrency and insecure content for work.

Are heavy speakers leaving due to changing user interests? Or do interests change as a result of the heavy tweeters leaving?

This was never made clear in the report, though Reuters spoke with a Twitter representative who confirmed that the monthly user count is growing overall.

Twitter is still attracting new users even though its most active users are back off the website. In the next section, we’ll look at where they might be headed.

Where do the heavy speakers go?

In internal documents obtained by Reuters, a Twitter researcher suggests that the decline in activity around topics like fashion and celebrities can be attributed to Instagram and TikTok.

Previously, esports and broadcast personalities were areas of growing interest among heavy Twitter users. Now, their business is likely to shift towards video-friendly websites like Twitch, YouTube, and TikTok.

What about the news? Twitter used to be the de facto platform for catching up on breaking news.

You might be surprised to learn that activism around the news is shifting to TikTok, too.

The Pew Research Center published a study this week showing that a growing percentage of adults in the US regularly get news on TikTok.

The report stated:

“In just two years, the share of US adults who say they receive news regularly from TikTok has nearly tripled, from 3% in 2020 to 10% in 2022.”

This timeline matches a reported decrease in activity around the news on Twitter.

While this isn’t enough evidence to conclude that avid Twitter users are instead turning to TikTok for news, the data is worth looking into.

According to the study, 26% of adults in the US say they regularly receive news on TikTok, which is up from previous years.

A third of American adults who use TikTok say they receive news regularly on the site.

In contrast, news consumption decreased or remained the same on other social networking sites.

It will be interesting to see if Twitter does anything in response to the reported drop in activity among heavy tweeters.

Sources: ReutersAnd Pew Research Center

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