Twitter is one of the most well-known and well-used social media platforms in the world.
With the tumultuous time the platform has endured recently, we thought it would be a good time to review 69 of the most interesting statistics about the social media giant.
Key Takeaways:
- Global ad reach of 500+ million people
- 3.5 users out of 10 are female
- Average user is a “wealthy millennial”
General Twitter Statistics
1. 368 – 556 Million Monthly Active Users
Twitter stopped using monthly active users (MAU) as a metric in 2019 when official figures showed there were 330 million monthly active users. Surveys and studies by independent parties estimate that the number has increased by differing amounts.
Some more conservative studies show an increase of almost 40 million users. More bullish estimates suggest that user numbers have increased by around 180 million. Whichever is true, what we do know is that Twitter user numbers are still growing.
2. 237.8 Million Monetizable Daily Active Users
Twitter’s most recent data shows that there were 237.8 million accounts ready to be shown ads, paid Twitter products, and subscriptions on a daily basis. Although these figures haven’t been updated in more than six months, we can assume that the current number is higher based on the knowledge that this number has trended upward every single quarter since Q1 2017.
3. More than 1.3 Billion Users
This figure can be a little misleading as it’s really showing the total number of accounts registered with the platform, and a single user may have more than one account. Also, as recently revealed data shows, there are a not insignificant number of fake, bot, and spammer accounts on the platform.
Twitter’s own estimates suggest that around 5% of accounts were bots, but most experts would agree that these estimates are low when you take into consideration that the 5% result came from a very small sample size.
4. 2,000 Full-Time Workforce
At its peak, Twitter had more than 7,000 full-time employees working for it. Following the takeover of the company in April 2022, the size of the workforce has been massively reduced to 2,000 full-time employees.
Any skill gaps in the workforce that remain are being filled by independent workers (freelance and contract workers).
5. The 14th Most Visited Social Network
To measure the popularity of the different social networks, experts used the number of monthly active users each platform attracted. Although Twitter boasts of having more than 1.3 billion users, its number of monthly active users means the platform ranks 14th (at best) in terms of global popularity. It lags behind the most popular platforms by a large margin, with Facebook holding the number one spot with more than 2.9 billion monthly active users.
6. $41.09 Billion Market Cap
Twitter’s market capitalization increased by $4.08 billion in the previous 12 months and almost $3 billion in the first few months of 2023. Its current valuation of $41.09 billion makes it the 416th most valuable company in the world by market cap.
7. Average User Has 707 Followers
This is a very misleading figure since it’s heavily skewed by some extremely successful accounts. In fact, eight out of every ten user accounts have less than fifteen followers and there are almost 400 million accounts that have no followers at all. Therefore, a very small percentage of users are having a disproportionate impact on the overall average.
8. 83% of World Leaders Use the Platform
World leaders around the globe have embraced Twitter.
For many users, Twitter is their primary source for news from around the world, and this makes it a powerful tool for world leaders hoping to get their messaging and policies in front of a big group of people at once.
The use of Twitter also has a secondary benefit to world leaders, as it makes them seem more approachable to the average citizen. Some leaders are more engaged on the platform than others, but regardless of the level of engagement, just being on the platform at all improves a leader’s image in the eyes of the public, especially younger citizens.
Twitter Demographic Statistics
Twitter Users by Gender
9. 56.4% of Users Are Male
Previously, Twitter users were almost evenly split, with 53% of users being male and 47% female. Recently, however, there has been a slight skewing in the favor of males with most estimates showing that the number of users reporting as male has grown to 56.4%. In some studies, the number is as high as 63%.
10. Most Prolific Tweeters Are Women
Although there are more men on Twitter than women, it’s the women that do the majority of the tweeting. Studies show that a typical female user tweets more than twice the amount a typical male user does. Females are more likely to tweet about and interact with brands on Twitter than their male peers.
Twitter Users by Age
11. Majority of Users Between 25 & 34 Years Old
Millennials are the majority age group on Twitter, making up 38.5% of the total user base. This is fairly unsurprising since Twitter was first introduced to the public during this age group’s formative years. 35 – 49-year-olds make up the second largest contingent of users and again this is to be expected as this age category contains many older millennials (often referred to as Bridge Millennials).
12. As Users Age, They Prefer Twitter Less
In studies that asked users from different age brackets to choose their favorite social media platform, it was found that Twitter is most strongly liked by the youngest age bracket (16-24) and then gradually declined in popularity as the participants got older. This was true across both male and female genders, but a more pronounced decline was present for females. This decline could be explained by older people having a stronger preference for viewing longer-form content. Alternatively, we could see the decline stabilize as the youngest generations get older.
Twitter Statistics per Country
America
13. 95.4 Million Users
This figure could be as low as 79 million depending on which data and survey is being used, but either way, it makes America the country that contributes the most users in the world.
14. 41.5 Million Monetizable Daily Active Users
One of Twitter’s preferred measurement tools for the platform is monetizable daily active users or mDAU for short. The number of mDAUs in the American market has grown for the last four financial quarters in a row and totaled 41.5 million in the most recent report released by Twitter.
15. 97% of American Tweets Are Sent by 25% of Users
The “noise” that comes from Twitter can make it seem like everyone is constantly talking to each other about everything, all of the time. However, this couldn’t be farther from the truth. Nearly all of the tweets produced by American users are sent by just 25% of users. That’s a very loud minority.
16. 42% of Users Under 29 Years Old
Recent surveys and studies of American Twitter users found that the largest audience was the 18 – 29 age group, which makes up 42% of the total American audience. The second largest group is the 30 – 49-year-olds which account for 27%. Understandably, these two generations make up a larger proportion of the user base as they were either teenaged when Twitter was first released to the public or have been born since its establishment as one of the primary social media and communication tools.
17. Most Users Have a College Education
Twitter’s U.S. user base is more likely to be college educated, with just 14% of users stating that they hold a high school graduation or lower level of education. In fact, American users without any type of college education are generally less likely to engage with social media overall.
18. 41% of Users Earn More than $75,000 per Year
American users of Twitter are more likely to be college educated and this shows in reported earnings with more than 40% saying that they earn over $75,000 per year. This further cements Twitter as a valuable platform for marketers, as the average user tends to be better off than the users of other platforms.
19. 39% of Requests for Account Information Come from U.S. Government
Government Information Requests is the term used for when a government wishes Twitter to disclose information about its users. These requests could be for a myriad of different reasons and many of them (60%) aren’t accepted by Twitter for being too broad in their scope. The U.S. government issues the most account information requests, accounting for approximately 40% of all the requests made globally.
20. Men Have a Higher Opinion of Twitter than Women
A Statista survey discovered that 43% of men had a “somewhat or very favorable” opinion of Twitter. The same survey found that 35% of women agreed with the “somewhat or very favorable” opinion but were also much more likely to report having no opinion about the platform (34%).
21. 33% of Tweets Are Political
A sample of 1 million tweets from American users found that a third of them were political in nature and that 65% of American users have posted or retweeted about politics at least once over the course of a year. However, it’s worth noting that the average American user only tweets this kind of content three times a year. What this means is that there are a small minority of users that tweet about politics a whole lot.
Japan
22. Japan Is Twitter’s Second-Largest Audience
Japan is well-known for its citizens and society readily embracing new technologies and Twitter is one such technology. Japan is the world’s second-largest market by user number, with between 58.9 million and 67.5 million active Twitter users. That’s spread almost equally between males and females, with 47.4% of users identifying as female.
23. 60% of Japan’s Population Aged 13+
Marketers will enjoy the potential reach of advertising to adults in Japan since it’s estimated that 60% of the population that is over 13 years old has a Twitter account. This places it third in the list of nations with the largest potential reach, only behind Hong Kong and Singapore.
United Kingdom
24. Up to 23.2 Million Users
The U.K. places 6th on the countries with the most Twitter users list, growing from 18.4 million in the previous year. That’s an increase of approximately 26.1% and represents almost a third of the entire population.
Australia
25. 41.9% Growth in Year-On-Year Ad Reach
Year-on-year, Twitter ad reach in Australia has grown by almost 42%. This has added an additional 1.6 million users to the platform and improved the country’s overall ad reach to 20% of the total population.
26. 7 out of 10 Users Are Male
Compared with the platform’s global average of the split between male and female users, the Australian audience skews even more towards males. Just 31.7% of the Australian audience identifies as female and 68.3% identify as male.
Brazil
27. Brazil Market Still Has Room to Grow
Brazil is currently Twitter’s fourth-largest market but still has plenty of room to grow. Currently, there are 24.3 million users, which is only 11.3% of the total population. In the last year alone, an increase of 27.6% added an additional 5.3 million users.
28. Gender Representation Almost Equal
In Brazil, there are 4.5 female users for every 5.5 male users. In terms of gender, this makes it one of the most evenly distributed markets, outperforming the global average, and is better than most of Twitter’s other four largest markets.
Canada
29. 2.5 Million More Users
Twitter’s ad reach in Canada grew by 31.6% when compared with results from the previous year and added 2.5 million extra users for advertisers to reach.
Germany
30. Advertisers Gain Access to 82% More Users
Germany had one of the largest user increases, year-on-year, of any country in the world. Estimates suggest that ad reach grew by 81.9% last year and added an extra 6.4 million users for advertisers and marketers to engage with. The even better news is that currently, only an estimated 16.9% of the population can be targeted. There is definitely space for Twitter in Germany to grow further.
Guinea-Bissau
31. No Female Users
Guinea-Bissau currently holds the position of being the only country with 0% of its Twitter users being female. Admittedly the country’s sample size is extremely limited, with an estimated 5,150 users or 0.2% of its population using the service.
Hong Kong
32. Doubled Ad Reach in 1 Year
Hong Kong has an eligible ad reach (ad reach vs population aged 13+) of 62.6% which makes it Twitter’s fifth-best market using this particular measure. Much of this boost in eligible ad reach could be attributed to the 100% year-on-year increase in potential ad reach which added another 2.1 million users.
India
33. India Is 3rd Largest Market and Has Potential to Be the Largest
India has the third largest audience in the world, with the latest data showing that there are approximately 27.25 million users. This number has grown by 15.5% since the same period last year which means an extra 3.7 million users. What’s more exciting for advertisers, marketers, and businesses is that despite being the third-largest market in the world, this still only represents 1.9% of the total population, 3.4% of total internet users, and an eligible ad reach of 2.4%: the country has the potential to become the largest market by user number in the mid-term future.
South Korea
34. Female Users Outnumber Males 7-to-3
South Korea is one of the few countries where female users outnumber male users by any amount, but in South Korea’s case, 68.6% of users identify as female compared with 31.4% that identify as male. The exact reasons for this are unclear; however, there is a strong anti-feminist movement in the country, with 75% of males in their twenties and thirties saying they are “repulsed by feminists and feminism” and the data shows that they’re more likely to boycott companies they believe are pushing government or feminist agendas.
Twitter Usage & Engagement Statistics
35. 😂 Is Most Used Emoji
| # | Emoji | Posts |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 😂 | 3,787,100,000 |
| 2 | ❤️ | 2,012,800,000 |
| 3 | 😭 | 1,705,200,000 |
| 4 | 😍 | 1,338,200,000 |
| 5 | ♻️ | 986,100,000 |
The crying with laughter emoji is easily the most used emoji on Twitter; it has appeared in more than 3.7 billion separate posts. The second most popular is the heart emoji, but it is second by some distance, as it has featured in roughly 2 billion tweets.
36. 40% of Users Purchase Products Seen on Twitter
Users have a tendency to only follow the brands, companies, and influencers that they trust and agree with. This is great news for advertisers as you can be sure of showing your product or service to the people that are most likely to be interested in buying it. In fact, advertising through Twitter can be so effective that as many as 40% of users report purchasing a product that they’ve seen promoted by a brand or influencer that they are currently following.
37. Users Spend 26% More Time on Advertisements (than on Other Platforms)
Twitter users spend more time looking at ads than they do on other platforms, and they spend more time on ads than other users on other platforms. This is great for businesses and marketers as their ads are more likely to be seen and engaged with, which increases brand awareness, improves website traffic, and can lead to more sales.
38. Only 12% of Tweets Are Longer than 140 Characters
In an attempt to create language parity, Twitter increased the character limit of English language countries from 140 to 280. However, since the increase, most tweets still use less than 140 characters, and only 5% go over 190 characters. This is likely because most users appreciate the concise nature of Twitter.
39. Over 5 Hours a Month on Twitter
Globally, the average amount of time users spend on the platform has increased by twenty-one minutes and is now equal to almost eleven minutes a day, five and a half hours a month, or approximately two and a half days a year. However, depending on the country where a user lives, the average time will differ. For example, the average time spent on Twitter in Mexico is less than five hours a month, but a user in Indonesia spends an average of eight hours a month.
40. Favorite Social Media for 3.4%
When asked to name their favorite social media platform, just 3.4% of active social media users chose Twitter. That puts it behind WhatsApp, Instagram, Facebook, WeChat, TikTok, and Douyin.
41. 61.2% of Users Use Platform for News Updates
When asked what they use Twitter for, most users (61.2%) stated that keeping up to date with news and current affairs was their primary reason for accessing the service. With so many brands, companies, and political leaders disseminating information through the platform, it’s easy to see why Twitter is viewed as a primary source of news for many people. Researching brands and products was the second most popular reason given, and entertainment came third.
42. Infrequent Twitter Users More Likely to Seek Different Points of View
As we know, a large majority of Twitter users never tweet or post a tweet, or retweet fewer than 5 times per month. When asked what they use the platform for, 76% of these infrequent tweeters said that they use it to seek out what other people are saying and only 6% of them express their own opinion.
What could be a surprise to some readers is the fact that while active users account for 97% of tweets, they’re almost three times less likely to seek out alternative opinions than the silent majority.
43. Most Engaged Users Follow More than 405 Accounts
The most engaged users follow an average of 405 accounts and have approximately 160 followers. The typical user follows closer to 100 accounts and has around 15 followers. It would seem that the majority of users prefer to consume rather than create content on the platform.
44. Hashtags Make Tweets Twice More Engaging
Consistently applying one or two hashtags to tweets has been found to boost engagement and improve message association (+18%), brand awareness (+8%), and purchase intent (+3%).
45. Average Engagement Rate Is 0.05%
Social media engagement is declining year by year across all social media platforms except for TikTok. Even so, Twitter’s average engagement rate is the worst of all the major platforms at just 0.05%. Why the average engagement rate is so low is hard to determine, but three common reasons for a low engagement rate are failing to tweet regularly, tweeting irrelevant content, and having fake followers. As the majority of users rarely tweet anything, we could postulate that this heavily skews the data.
Twitter Traffic Statistics
46. Twitter Is the Second Largest Provider of Web Traffic to Other Websites
Links to content outside of the Twitter platform are frequently included in user tweets and retweets. Twitter is responsible for 10.38% of web traffic that arrives at third-party websites, making it the second largest contributor after Facebook. The amount that Twitter contributes to this web traffic has increased by 34.3% from a year earlier.
47. 5,910 Tweets Every Second
Almost 6,000 tweets are sent every second, equating to almost 21,000,000 tweets an hour and 500,000,000 per day. That means over the span of a year, the platform handles approximately 184,000,000,000 tweets.
48. 6.6 Billion Visitors in March 2023
Between the desktop site and all the mobile apps, there were 6.6 billion visits to the platform in March 2023. That’s an improvement of 5 billion compared with a month earlier but still lower than the 6.9 billion visits made in January.
49. 4th Most Visited Website in the World
Twitter is the favorite social network for approximately 3.5% of people, and yet the platform is the fourth most visited website in the world, only being beaten by Facebook (3), YouTube (2), and Google (1).
50. 2 Billion Video Views a Day
Video content grows in popularity with the public every day and this shows in the number of videos viewed on Twitter every day and the growth it has experienced over the last year. There are approximately 2 billion video views on the platform every day, which is a 67% year-on-year increase.
51. Soccer Is Most Tweeted Sport
This will probably be completely unsurprising, but soccer (or football for anyone not from North America) is the most talked about sport on Twitter. As it is easily the most popular and played sport throughout most of the world, it’s easy to understand why so many people are talking about it.
Twitter for Business Statistics
Advertising & Marketing Statistics
52. Global Ad Reach of 556 Million People
According to some studies and estimates, the number of users that advertisers have the potential to reach has increased by as much as 30% since the same time a year earlier. Advertisers and marketers should be aware that a majority of new users will be based outside the U.S. New user numbers are expected to level off in the United States as Twitter reaches peak saturation levels in that market.
53. Top 5 Countries for Ad Reach
| # | Country | Total Reach | 13+ Reach |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | U.S.A. | 95,400,000 | 33.2% |
| 2 | Japan | 67,450,000 | 60.5% |
| 3 | India | 27,250,000 | 2.4% |
| 4 | Brazil | 24,300,000 | 13.6% |
| 5 | Indonesia | 24,000,000 | 11.1% |
America, Japan, India, Brazil, and Indonesia are the five markets with the largest advertising audiences. The position of the top five may differ depending on the study or survey used.
54. Top 5 Countries for Eligible Ad Reach
| # | Country | 13+ Reach | Total Reach |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Singapore | 103.0% | 5,550,000 |
| 2 | Seychelles | 101.3% | 86,950 |
| 3 | Andorra | 82.9% | 59,400 |
| 4 | Luxembourg | 76.6% | 430,750 |
| 5 | Hong Kong | 62.6% | 4,200,000 |
The five markets with the highest eligible ad reach are Singapore, Seychelles, Andorra, Luxembourg, and Hong Kong. You’ll notice that these markets are much smaller than the top five shown previously, and with a smaller market, it’s easier to achieve a higher eligible ad reach percentage.
You’ll also see that two of these markets have over 100% reach, which shouldn’t be possible. This is caused by various factors including but not limited to duplicate and fake accounts, accounts that don’t represent individuals (e.g. businesses, bands, etc.), and differences in data collection techniques.
55. Twitter Can Reach ~11% of Internet Users
| Platform | Ad Reach vs Total Internet Users | Ad Reach vs Total Population | Ad Reach vs Population 13+ | Ad Reach vs Population 18+ |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 38.4% | 24.8% | 31.7% | – | |
| YouTube | 48.7% | 31.4% | – | 36.8% |
| 25.6% | 16.5% | 21.1% | – | |
| TikTok | 20.4% | 13.1% | – | 18.7% |
| Messenger | 18.0% | 11.6% | 14.9% | – |
| 17.5% | 11.2% | – | 16.0% | |
| Snapchat | 12.3% | 7.9% | – | 10.1% |
| 10.8% | 6.9% | 8.9% | – | |
| 4.8% | 3.1% | 4.0% | – |
Marketers choosing to use Twitter to promote products and services can expect to reach 10.8% of the globe’s Internet users. While other social platforms like Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok all have a much larger ad reach, marketers should be interested in Twitter since its users are typically wealthier millennials and they spend more time looking at ads than users on other platforms.
56. 27.4% Ad Reach Growth
After its sale to Elon Musk, there were some concerns that advertisers were leaving or staying away from Twitter. However, advertisers have returned to the platform and it’s easy to see why as the size of its advertisement audience actually grew by 27.4%, adding another 120 million users for businesses to promote to.
Revenue Statistics
57. $4.4 Billion Revenue in 2022
Revenue for the year fell by 11%, from almost $4.9 billion the year previous to $4.4 billion at the end of 2022. This is a pretty strong showing from Twitter when you consider the tumultuous year the company had with its sale to Elon Musk, issues with bot accounts, and advertisers that left the platform for a short time following a series of controversial decisions to reinstate media personalities that had previously been banned.
58. 90% of Revenue Generated Through Advertising
Revenue report for the year ending 2022 shows that advertising accounted for roughly 90% of Twitter’s total revenue generation. Although this is 3% – 4% lower than the contribution made a year earlier this is still a strong showing from a company that was going through a sometimes-acrimonious takeover.
Twitter Trends & Predictions
59. 652.23 Million Monthly Active Users by 2028
The uncertainty that surrounded the future of Twitter just a few months ago has mostly passed and user numbers are expected to continue climbing. Studies show that monthly active user numbers are expected to hit more than 650 million by 2028. In fact, that number may turn out to be too conservative an estimate, as the studies that landed on that number of 650+ million were carried out before the latest monthly active numbers were released.
60. Corporate Call-Out Culture Will Continue to Grow
Twitter’s marketing insights reveal that distrust of corporate and consumer culture is growing and that people are tired of hearing companies pay lip service to the issues the public genuinely cares about. The last year saw a 64% increase in terms like “restoring” and “rebalancing,” and a 158% increase in mentions of “greenwashing”. Through the year ahead, Twitter expects terms like “fighting waste,” “sustainable growth,” “tracking sustainability,” and “decarbonization” to become more popular.
61. Fans Will Demand More from Their Brands
Brands are often built off the enthusiasm of their fans, making brand owners rich but leaving the fans that helped them get there behind. Things are changing, and fans are expecting more from the brands they help build. Last year saw a 994% increase in mentions of “fan tokens,” and fan tweets doubled compared with a year earlier. Businesses and brands that embrace the idea of their fans being owners and collaborators will achieve greater success than those that prefer to maintain more traditional ownership attitudes.
62. Finance Concerns Are Growing
Concerns about the rising cost of living and falling wage values, particularly among Twitter’s most important age brackets (18–24 and 25–39), have contributed toward a 78% increase in the number of tweets about finance from non-experts. Another indicator of how much non-experts discussing finance topics has grown is the 492% increase in the use of emojis in financial conversations, something that experts don’t use to the same extent as the general public.
63. Twitter’s Ad Business Will Shrink to 2019 Levels
From September to October 2022, Twitter’s top 10 advertisers spent a combined $71 million on the platform. From February to March 2023, the same advertisers reduced their spending on the platform to just $7.1 million. This has been partly driven by uncertainty caused by the sale of the platform to Elon Musk and also a more general business-wide desire to reduce spending in response to changes in domestic and global economies.
Twitter Fun Facts
64. Most Followed User Has 133.54 Million Followers
The most followed person on the planet is also the most followed politician (current and past) in the world. Former U.S. President Barack Obama has 6 million more followers than the second most followed person, Twitter owner and CEO Elon Musk.
65. Elon Musk Approval Rating Up to 34%
Elon Musk’s purchase of Twitter wasn’t without its controversies, and public opinion of him took a significant hit at around that time. Recent surveys in America place his current approval rating at around the 34% mark, an improvement over the 30% approval rating he had just before he completed his purchase. Simultaneously, there has also been a 5% increase in the number of people who disapprove.
66. First Tweet Sent from Space in 2010
Twitter hit a milestone event when the first tweet sent from space occurred just 4 years after the platform’s launch. NASA astronaut T. J. Creamer sent the first unassisted off-Earth tweet from the International Space Station.
67. 4 Million Retweets in 24 Hours
After promising to give away a combined 100 million yen ($925,000) to 100 random individuals that followed his account and retweeted his tweet, Yusaku Maezawa quickly became the owner of the most retweeted tweet of all time with more than 4 million retweets. A year later he followed this stunt up with a tweet promising to give away 1 billion yen ($9.2 million), which became the second most retweeted tweet of all time.
68. Ellen DeGeneres’ Oscar Tweet
The tweet above became a Twitter “moment” in 2014, quickly gathering 2.9 million retweets to place it joint fourth on the all-time most retweets list.
69. 4,000 Character Tweets
From February 2023, Twitter Blue subscribers in the U.S. gained the ability to send tweets over the 280-character limit and are now able to send tweets up to 4,000 characters long.
Frequently Asked Questions
How Many People Use Twitter?
There are a reported 1.3 million registered users and up to 557 million monthly active users.
Which Country Has the Most Twitter Users?
The U.S. has up to 95.4 million users, making it Twitter’s largest market by user number.
What Demographic Uses Twitter the Most?
The “wealthy millennial” is the most dominant demographic on the platform.
Does Twitter Make Money?
Yes. Twitter generates billions of dollars in profits every year. This has, however, decreased recently as companies have reevaluated their advertisement spending levels.
How Many Tweets Are Sent per Day?
Approximately half a billion tweets are sent every day.
How Many Followers Do Twitter Users Have?
The average user has around 15 followers; however, the global average is skewed much higher (closer to 700) due to some hyper-Twitter users that have extremely large numbers of followers.
Is Twitter Growing?
Yes, Twitter is still gaining new users all over the world, with an estimated 120 million users joining the platform last year.
Sources
In addition to our own research, we’ve used parts of data from Twitter, Statista, Pew Research Center, Similar Web, Insider Intelligence.
