Who is Actually Tweeting?

I think I have only tweeted a handful of times. Some people on Twitter would even call me a lurker. Although I rarely contribute to the platform, I still scroll through the app several times each day to check in on my favorite Twitter accounts. While I am perusing the site I often wonder: do the majority of Twitter users actually tweet? Or do a few Twitter accounts produce most of the content?

Background

Number of Monthly Active Twitter Users

number_twitter_users

According to Twitter, active monthly users numbered around 330 million strong in Q1 2019. Even though growth in the platform has plateaued over the last few years, the application remains immensely popular.

Twitter accounts with the most followers worldwide as of May 2020

most_popular_twitter_accounts

In terms of account popularity, musicians certainly top the charts. Outside of current and former presidents, the top 10 accounts are dominated by prominent entertainers. President Obama may lead the pack with a substantial following, but Justin Bieber and Katy Perry are both close behind him.

User Activity

In an effort to analyze user behavior, Pew Research Center conducted a survey in late 2018 of 2,791 US adult Twitter users. These survey participants shared their Twitter account handles and agreed to let the researchers measure their activity over this time period. The findings of the survey revealed the differences in conduct across the spectrum of Twitter accounts and confirmed a few of my intuitions.

tweet_stats
There was a big disparity between the most active tweeters and the rest of the Twitter population. The top 10% posted a median of 138 times per month, while the bottom 90% only tweeted 2 times per month. Unsurprisingly, the more active tweeters also garner a substantially larger following than those users who do not post as frequently.

tweet_majority

Overall, a small cohort of Twitter users produce a vast majority of all tweets. Based on the Pew research, 80% of tweets were generated by the top 10% of Twitter posters. The preponderance of Twitter users are actually more similar to me. As a proud member of the 90%, I use the platform to consume content but do not write a substantial amount of the posts.

SOURCES

https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2019/04/24/sizing-up-twitter-users/

https://www.statista.com/statistics/273172/twitter-accounts-with-the-most-followers-worldwide/

https://www.statista.com/statistics/282087/number-of-monthly-active-twitter-users/