There’s been a lot of change at X (formerly known as Twitter) in the last 18 months. So what’s the current state of affairs?
This freshly updated inventory of X (Twitter) stats reveals that the platform presents some unique opportunities for brands – if you know your audience.
General X (Twitter) stats
1. 70% of U.S. adults have seen or heard about Twitter’s name change to X
Tha means 30% have heard nothing about the change and might not know what you mean if you refer to X alone. It’s a tricky linguistic road to navigate, which is why we usually still include the original name when we talk about the platform.
2. 43% of Twitter users said it was a mistake to change the name to X
It certainly makes it harder to write about the platform, research the platform, and even talk about the platform. Most conversations and reports about the platform now call it X (formerly Twitter), or some variation of this wording for clarity.
Bonus: Find out what people really want from brands on social—including why they follow, engage, buy, and even unfollow them—in The Social Media Consumer Report.
3. The most followed Twitter account is @ElonMusk
The new X/Twitter owner overtook former U.S. President Barack Obama as the most followed account after purchasing the platform.
As of this writing, Musk has 179.2 million followers, while Obama has 131.9 million.
Justin Bieber, Cristiano Ronaldo, and Rihanna round out the top 5.
4. Only 40% of people have a positive opinion of X
It’s no secret that Musk’s takeover of the platform has been a divisive topic for Twitter’s user base, with some users applauding his decisions and others disagreeing.
For now, the platform is disliked by 26% of the public, with 19% holding a neutral opinion.
Source: YouGov
5. X is the 9th most popular social platform in the United States
Pew Research Center found that 22% of Americans say they ever use Twitter, compared to 68% for Facebook and 47% for Instagram.
Source: Pew Research Center
For marketers, this may mean that X is not the top priority for social marketing. (And we’ll share some statistics on Twitter usage by brands later on that bear that out.)
However, the most important thing is to understand whether your specific target market uses X. If they’re active on the platform, it’s worth your time, regardless of how popular it is with other groups.
X (Twitter) user statistics
6. About 250 million people visit X every day
That’s down from 259 million in November 2022, but up from the 225 million X CEO Linda Yaccarino said the platform had in November 2023.
While there may have been an initial drop in user profiles after Musk shook up the platform in October 2022, things seem to be recovering. Marketers will need to keep a close eye on Twitter user statistics over the next year to see how this all shakes out.
For now, keep a close eye on your X (Twitter) analytics using a tool like Hootsuite to see how your engagement rates and ROI compare to the results you’re getting on other platforms.
7. About 55 million Americans aged 12 and up use X
Source: Edison Research
We just said that X usage appeared to be evening out, but this is not the case for American users specifically. American users on the platform have dropped 30% since 2023.
But again, if the Americans still using the platform are your target market, you shouldn’t worry too much about that drop. Audience research, testing, and reporting are your keys to weathering this change.
8. 42% of American X users are aged 18-29
Again, the lesson here is to ensure data is guiding your social media marketing strategy. It’s easy to assume that Gen Z only cares about TikTok, but they’re by far the largest generation on X.
The next-largest group of users is 30- to 49-year-olds, who make up 27% of the American X user population.
9. 26% of American men use X, but only 19% of women
In combination with the next item in our list of Twitter stats, this indicates that marketers specifically targeting a male audience may wish to invest more effort in the platform.
10. X has the largest gender gap of any social platform
60.9% of users worldwide are male, and 39.1% of users are female (no other gender options were presented). X also has the largest share of male users of any social network.
Source: Statista
11. 29% of Americans who make $100,000 per year or more use X
That’s the largest percentage of any income group. Still, it pales in comparison to the 68% of Americas in this income category who use Facebook and 54% who use Instagram.
X use is not hugely varied across income categories. Between 18 and 21% of Americans in all income categories under $99,999 also use the platform.
12. 29% of Americans who have a college degree use X
That’s nearly double the usage of those with high school or less, 15% of whom use the platform.
13. 26% of Americans who live in the suburbs use X
Along with 25% of those who live in cities. Only 13% of rural Americans use the platform.
14. 26% of left-leaning Americans use X
Compare that to 20% of those who lean to the right. This is one of the larger gaps in use among political affiliations of all the social platforms (except Instagram).
Combine all of the above statistics about Twitter users and you can start to build a persona of the most common X user: A college-educated left-leaning man who has a college degree and lives in the suburbs.
Learn more in our post on X (Twitter) demographics.
15. X sees an average of 1.7 million users sign up per day
That explains the recovery from the drop in total users. We’ll be keeping a close eye on this trend to see if it continues (and you should, too!).
X (Twitter) usage statistics
16. 80% of X user sessions include watching video
Video views increased 35% year-over-year, while the average time spent watching videos increased by 17%.
You may not have thought of Twitter as a video platform, but X is leaning hard into video this year. If you’re not already testing video performance on X, you may want to start.
17. Immersive video on X has more than 100 million daily active users
More than half of those users are Gen Z. So what exactly is immersive video? It’s X’s take on full-screen vertical vids. It’s a potential new surface for sharing the types of videos you’re already creating for TikTok and Instagram Reels.
18. 23% of Americans get news from X
And 12% regularly get news from the platform. That makes it the fifth-most-popular social network for news consumption in the United States.
Source: Pew Research Center
Men are much more likely to get their news on X than women are. 62% of regular X news consumers are men, compared to 36% women.
Either way, X is still a relatively important social platform for news.
Note: While we don’t specifically have numbers for Canadians getting news on Twitter, we can extrapolate from the American figures that Twitter may be one of the most important social platforms for Canadian news dissemination, since Meta platforms block news in Canada.
19. The average user spends 30.9 minutes per day on X
That equates to 3.6 hours per week or more than 15 hours per month. It’s an increase of 13% since last year.
Mobile time spent has increased 17% since September 2023. With mobile time spent increasing faster than desktop time, it’s worth testing mobile-first content on the platform.
20. In total, people spend more than 8 billion active minutes on X per day
That’s an increase of 10% from 2023. X data shows much of the recent growth in time spent comes from video and Communities products, with people spending more than 300 million minutes on Communities daily.
Communities are discussion channels similar to Facebook Groups. If you have valuable niche expertise and thought leadership, you may wish to look for Communities to contribute to, or even consider starting your own.
21. X Premium subscribers spend an average of 3 times longer on the platform than other users
It makes sense that people willing to shell out the $8/month for X Premium are the platform’s power users.
22. X is the most-used social platform for just 5% of Americans aged 12+
It ranks fifth on this front, behind Facebook (46%), Instagram (19%), TikTok (13%), and Snapchat (6%). That means most X users are spending the bulk of their social media time elsewhere.
But for those 5%, X is where it’s at. This is further evidence of the importance of testing your cross-platform strategy to see what resonates (and where) with your audience.
23. The X iOS app is most-used by Americans, while the Android App is preferred by those in India
There are significant differences in usage between the two versions of the X mobile app.
iOS
Source: X iOS app usage via data.ai
Android
Source: X Android app usage via data.ai
X (Twitter) for business stats
24. 66% of brands have a presence on X
X’s ad reach isn’t the biggest, nor is the platform the right fit for all types of businesses. But if your people are on X, you should be too.
Learn the ins and outs of the Twitter algorithm and how to create a winning Twitter marketing strategy to push your business to new heights.
Source: Hootsuite 2024 Social Trends Report
25. Only 30% of social marketers are confident they get positive ROI from X
That’s a 23% decrease from the previous year.
Source: Hootsuite 2024 Social Trends Report
This helps explain why…
26. X saw a 7% drop in brand use in 2024
Brands tend to flee from uncertainty, and this was a year full of uncertainty and speculation for the platform previously known as Twitter.
For brands to return in force to X, they’ll need to gain more confidence in their ROI. Use a tool like Hootsuite Advanced Analytics to track your own ROI on the platform and use the results to determine how much effort you put into your X organic (and paid) strategy.
27. The average organic X engagement rate is 1.66% for the entertainment and media industry
That’s the highest rate among all available industries tracked in Hootsuite Analytics Industry Benchmarking tool. The lowest engagement rate by industry is 0.88% for food and beverage.
Not to fear: It’s easy to beat 0.88% with the right X content strategy, networking efforts, and time. (And you can always run ads for a boost if needed.)
Not sure what your average engagement rate is? Find out with our free engagement rate calculator, or try Hootsuite and let it crunch your numbers and tell you how to improve — automatically.
28. X accounts with more than 2,500 verified followers qualify for X Premium at no cost
Elon Musk made this announcement in late March. Previously, the only way to get premium features was to pay $8/month.
We’ve already said that Premium users spend more time on the platform. This is added incentive for brands to aim to increase their Premium follower base.
X (Twitter) advertising stats
29. X has 528.3 million monetizable monthly active users (mMAU)
mWhat? Twitter defines a monetizable monthly active user (mMAU) as an account that has physically logged in on a monthly basis and isn’t a bot.
These users are monetizable because they see Twitter ads after they log in. So, this is the potential advertising audience for ads you place on the social media platform.
30. Vertical video ads on X see a 7x greater engagement rate than home timeline ads
This new ad format also sees a 10% incremental increase in reach, and 14% lower CPM.
We already talked about the increase in time spent on immersive video, the organic version of this format. If you see success with organic vertical videos on X, consider adding budget to test them as ads, too.
31. X ads saw a 22% increase in total engagements in 2023
X attributes this increase in part to changes in the algorithms. More engagements are good for advertisers. If you’ve been disappointed with your X ads engagement in the past, it may be time to try again.
32. X’s ad spend revenue will drop 2% this year and 4% in 2025
That may not sound like much, but it follows a major drop in Twitter’s revenue in 2023 (down 55%).
That’s according to estimates by eMarketer, which notes that the platform is actively trying to bring in new advertisers in the small-to-medium business category.
33. 32.4% of X’s ad spend comes from the media sector
And another 19.8% from retail.
Source: eMarketer
If you operate in travel and tourism or automotive, this means you’re facing much less ad competition on the platform. There’s potential to stand out from the crowd.
X (Twitter) Tweet statistics
34. You can post on X up to 2,400 times per day
Does anyone need more? In all seriousness, X has a few limits to help reduce potential bot spam.
Want to get the maximum reach from all those posts? Use Hootsuite’s Best Time to Publish feature to schedule your X content at the optimal times for your audience to see it and engage.
35. The top 4 conversation topics on X in 2023 were sports, gaming, music, and food
There were more than 4 billion posts about sports alone on the platform in 2023.
If you’re operating in one of these industries, consider putting a social listening strategy in place to find relevant conversations to join. People may already be talking about your brand without tagging you.
36. 84% of X posts are replies, retweets, or quote tweets
Only 15% are original posts.
For marketers, the insight here is that X users are very willing to share content they agree with, or that resonates with them. When planning your X content strategy, think about your posts with the potential for re-shares in mind.
Build a smart X marketing strategy by using Hootsuite to plan, schedule, and publish Tweets, engage with users, and track topics and hashtags. Combined with powerful Twitter analytics, Hootsuite is your perfect partner for success on the platform and all other networks.
Do it better with Hootsuite, the all-in-one social media tool. Stay on top of things, grow, and beat the competition.
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