34 Twitter Stats Marketers Need To Know

It might not be the biggest or most popular social media platform, but X, formerly known as Twitter, continues to drive value for social media marketers and brands of all kinds.

Founded in 2006, Twitters microblogging platform lets users share original content and engage with each other via 280-character messages. Millions of users leverage the platform each day to discover everything from world news to funny memes and everything in between.

These Twitter stats prove that it deserves a place in your social media and social listening strategy. Let’s dive in!

Table of Contents:

• General Twitter Stats

• Twitter User Statistics

• Twitter Usage Stats

• Twitter Statistics on Marketing and Advertising

• Country-Specific Twitter Statistics

• Twitter Stats on Popular Accounts and Topics

General Twitter Stats

X, formerly known as Twitter, started growing in popularity after making a splash at the 2007 South by Southwest Interactive conference. Here’s a look at some general information about the X / Twitter landscape as it stands today.

• Twitter has 217 million daily active users. (Statista)
  The company last reported its monetizable daily active users in Q4 2021. However, Statista notes that Twitter no longer reports on this metric.
• Twitter generates more than $5 billion in annual revenue. (Twitter)
  The latest figure comes from a Twitter release, noting a growth of 37% in just one year. More than a quarter of the company’s revenue came from Q4 2021.
• Twitter employs 7,500 workers, up from just 130 in 2010. (Statista)
  In January 2008, just eight employees made up Twitter’s offices. That number jumped to 29 employees the following year. Its largest growth period was between 2011 and 2013, when Twitter went from 350 employees to over 2,700 employees.
• Twitter is the 9th most visited website in the world. (Statista)
  Active users enjoyed more than 2.4 billion sessions in 2021.
• Twitter is the 15th most used social media platform in the world. (Statista)
  Though Twitter has some stiff competition in the social media space, it still remains a Top 20 contender.

Twitter User Statistics

In terms of social media marketing, understanding a particular platform's user base helps you see if it includes your target audience. Here’s more information on X / Twitter demographics that can help you create your content strategy accordingly.

• 56% of Twitter’s users are men. (Statista)
  Twitter has largely been used by men, with previous research suggesting a 70/30 ratio. New data shows that active Twitter users are still most likely to be men, although the gap has narrowed in recent years.
• 25- to 34-year-olds make up most of Twitter’s user base. (Statista) 
  Nearly 40% of Twitter users worldwide are in their late 20s and early 30s. 35- to 49-year-olds make up the next-largest group at just over 20%. 
• 16- to 24-year-olds are more likely to say that Twitter is their favorite platform. (DataReportal)
  Though Twitter is more popular with older users, 4.8% of 16- to 24-year-olds prefer it over other social media platforms. By comparison, only 2.6% of people ages 25 to 34 choose Twitter as their favorite.
• About 88% of Twitter users also use Instagram. (DataReportal)
  Twitter has the highest audience overlap with Instagram, but also shares large portions of its user base with Facebook (83.7%), YouTube (80.1%), and WhatsApp(75.5%).

Twitter Usage Stats

Something X, formerly known as Twitter, offers is the ability to tap into real-time conversations. From commenting on events to sharing ideas, X / Twitter fosters an immediacy that makes it an ideal discovery platform. Here are some more insights on how people are using the social media platform.

• More than half of Twitter users access the platform daily. (Statista)
  X, formerly known as Twitter, may not have the largest user base, but they do have one of the most engaged audiences. 52% of Twitter users are on the platform daily, viewing, posting, or engaging with content. Tip: Check out our guide to posting videos on Twitter.
• 96% of Twitter users access the platform monthly. (Statista)
  Nearly all active users access the platform at least once per month, while 84% access it weekly. These figures come from 2020 data.
• Twitter users post more than 500 million tweets every day. (Internet Live Stats)
  Users are sharing their thoughts on X, formerly known as Twitter, 6,000 times every second, which is more than 500 million times per day. At this rate, Twitter sees more than 200 billion tweets per year!
• Twitter users spend an average of 5 hours a month on the platform. (DataReportal)
  This is not nearly as much time as people spend on YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram. But considering X, formerly known as Twitter, is a microblogging site with very few videos, five hours a month is a significant amount!
• Tweets that include GIFs get 55% more engagement. (Twitter)
  Straight from the blue bird’s mouth, Tweets that contain a GIF will see a major boost in engagement. And yet, only about 2% of Tweets include a GIF. Brands are leaving their click-through and conversion rates on the table if they don’t see the value in adding a GIF.

Twitter Statistics on Marketing and Advertising

X, formerly known as Twitter, has played an important role in the social media marketing landscape. However, platforms like Instagram and Facebook have offered better advertising options, despite X / Twitter being the original platform for hashtag campaigns, memes, and brand customer service. Check out these stats on marketing and advertising on Twitter and rethink your social strategy.

• 16% of Twitter users rely on the platform for brand research. (DataReportal)
  Twitter is one of the best social media networks for discovery. Many users between the ages of 16 and 64 use the platform to conduct brand research, which means brands need to be diligent in keeping their profiles and content up to date.
• Users spend 26% more time viewing ads on Twitter. (Twitter)
  Twitter users aren’t as ad-fatigued as users of other platforms. This combined with the fact that Twitter isn’t oversaturated with ads helps to explain why users spend more time looking at ads there than on other platforms.
• 53% of Twitter users are more likely to be among the first to buy new products than the average person.
  (Twitter)
  Twitter users leverage the social network to discover new brands and products, and this is reflected in their willingness to try new products on the spot.
• Twitter offers the lowest CPM of all social advertising platforms. (Statista)
  Pinterest’s cost per mille (cost per thousand impressions) sits at $30 USD, the highest of all social platforms. By comparison, Twitter’s CPM is just $6.46, which is cheaper than LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube.
• Twitter revenue from ads topped $1.41 billion in 2021. (Twitter)
  This 22% year-over-year growth in ad revenue highlights what savvy social marketers have known all along — X / Twitter is a wealth of opportunities for brands to drive sales. More businesses are turning to Twitter as other outlets get too crowded and expensive.
• 80% of Twitter users welcome interactions with brands. (Twitter)
  Appropriate conversation topics include holidays, social issues, current affairs, memes, and internet culture.

• Less than 1% of replies to brands are negative. (Twitter)
  Despite what many marketers fear, only 0.2% of brand conversations on Twitter involve tweets with negative sentiment. Instead, the platform offers countless opportunities for brands to foster positive connections with their audiences!

Country-Specific Twitter Statistics

X / Twitter usage and user bases vary from place to place. Here's a closer look at Twitter stats specific to certain countries, particularly the platform's largest market, the United States.

• 76.9 million active Twitter users are in the United States. (Statista)
  The majority of Twitter’s user base comes from the United States. Japan takes second place with nearly 59 million users, followed by India with 23.6 million users. Brazil and Indonesia round out the top five.
• Twitter is the second most popular social media platform in Japan. (Statista, Bigbeat)
  Despite trailing them in the U.S., Twitter is far more popular than Facebook and Pinterest in Japan.
• 25% of U.S. Twitter users account for 97% of all tweets. (Pew Research Center)
  Similar to the 80/20 rule, where 20% of a business’s customers make up about 80% of the company’s sales, we see a similar engagement rate trend with Twitter. The platform’s most active quarter-slice of users in its biggest market contributes the majority of its content.
• 55% of U.S. Twitter users rely on the platform for news. (Pew Research Center)
  In the United States, X, formerly known as Twitter, has become a prime source of news and global events, which is a key feature for more than half of all monthly active users. Bonus stat: 46% of Twitter accounts say the platform has helped them to understand world events, while nearly a third say they are more politically aware because of Twitter.
• 33% of U.S. Twitter users have a college education. (Statista)
  About a quarter of X / Twitter users have some college or a college degree. By comparison, only about 14% of users have a high school education or less.

• U.S. Twitter users skew Democrat. (Pew Research Center)
  About 65% of Twitter users are Democrats or lean Democratic. However, according to Pew Research data, Reddit remains the most Democrat-leaning social media platform, with only about 20% of its users leaning Republican.
• A third of U.S. Twitter users make an annual income of $75,000 or more. (Pew Research Center)
  In the United States, X / Twitter users tend to have greater spending power than users of other social media sites, especially compared to Snapchat, WhatsApp, TikTok, and Reddit users.
• The average U.S. Twitter user spends six minutes a day on the platform. (eMarketer)
  Though average time spent on the platform has remained steady over the past few years, Twitter users still spend more time on the platform in 2022 than they did in 2018 and 2019.

Twitter Stats on Popular Accounts and Topics

Want to know who and what is performing best on Twitter? Here’s a roundup of insights on some accounts and topics that are getting the most attention.

• Barack Obama is the most followed Twitter account with over 130 million followers. (Statista)
  The former POTUS beat out pop star Justin Bieber for first place in follower count. Other popular Twitter accounts include Rihanna, soccer star Cristiano Ronaldo, and Katy Perry.
• YouTube is the most followed brand on Twitter. (Social Blade)
  With almost 75 million followers, YouTube's Twitter account is more popular than the platform's own official account, which has "only" 61.5 million followers. Tip: Learn more about the most important YouTube statistics.
• Soccer/Football is the most tweeted sport. (Twitter)
  According to a Twitter article, conversation about football (or soccer, in some countries) is up 27% since January 2019. Brands can learn more about what’s trending on Twitter – like soccer – to find ways to connect with their audiences over shared interests.

• Finance is the fastest-growing topic. (Twitter)
  Conversations about finance, particularly cryptocurrency and decentralized finance, are booming on the platform — particularly among Gen Z users.
• #Influencer is one of Twitter’s most popular hashtags. (Influencer Marketing Hub)
  X, formerly known as Twitter, is a hotspot for influencer marketing, and this top-trending hashtag proves it. Twitter also makes it easy to see other trending topics and hashtags at a glance via the Explore tab. Other popular topics and hashtags include veganism, travel, fitness, and inspiration. Looking a layer deeper, terms like these indicate the platform's user base has a heavy focus on wellness, mental health, and an upscale lifestyle.

Clearly, X / Twitter still has much to offer its users and content marketers more than 15 years after its introduction. Meltwater can help you pilot an effective Twitter marketing strategy driven by data insights.

Learn about trending topics before they blow up so you can generate impactful content and foster meaningful conversations. Learn more when you schedule a demo!