First launched in 2006 as a micro-blogging site for short posts, X (formerly Twitter) has since grown to become one of the world’s top social media platforms, with hundreds of millions of users worldwide. While the number of characters allowed in a single post has doubled from 140 to 280 characters, the platform is still the go-to spot for short, succinct messages.
The company has undergone some major changes in the last 18 months with the acquisition of the company by tech billionaire Elon Musk—including a provocative name change. But despite some shake-ups, X is still a relevant platform among journalists, industry experts, businesses, and everyday users. It’s long been considered a global town square where people can share their thoughts, opinions, insights, and data.
Curious about who uses X, why, and how? If you’re wondering whether it’s worthwhile to invest in social media marketing efforts on the platform, these statistics will give you some insight into the state of X and where it might be headed.
Note: Twitter was rebranded to X around July of 2023, but we refer to it as both “X” and “Twitter” throughout this post.
Twitter demographics and user stats can help you understand who uses X and how they engage with the platform. This is crucial for creating a targeted marketing strategy. Check out the latest Twitter user statistics to glean insights into user age, gender, geographic distribution, and income levels in 2024.
While this pales in comparison to Facebook’s 3 billion monthly active users, having an active user base of hundreds of millions of people is nothing to sneeze at.
Twitter’s daily user numbers have been in flux ever since Elon Musk took over in Q3 of 2022, but things seem to be recovering. Still, it’s good to keep a watchful eye on your stats in 2024 to see how things play out.
If you don’t have the time or know-how to sift through and make sense of your Twitter (X) analytics, hire a social media management company to help.
With 109.2 million active users (nearly a third of the population), X is one of the most popular media platforms in America. Japan and India are the platform’s second and third biggest users as of April 2024, with 69.3 and 25.5 million users, respectively.
If you’re a U.S. business owner whose target audience is on the platform, investing time and money into marketing efforts may be worthwhile.
The average age of Twitter users is less important than knowing which age group(s) to target. As of April 2024, more than two-thirds of X users (71.3%) are between the ages of 18 and 34. Here’s a breakdown of age groups, from most to fewest users:
Users aged 25-34: 36.6%
Users aged 18-24: 34.2%
Users aged 35-49: 19.7%
Users age 50+: 7%
Users less than 18: 2.4%
If your products or services cater to a younger audience, Twitter can be an effective channel for reaching them.
As of April 2024, Twitter’s user base is 61% male and 39% female (those were the only two gender options presented). Companies targeting a younger male audience may find it worthwhile to invest in ads and outreach on the platform.
Meanwhile, 20% of those who earn $70,000-$99,000 per year have used X, followed by 21% who earn $30,000 and $69,999 per year. Of those who earn $30K or less per year, just 18% say they have used X.
Given that many X users earn well above the 2023 median annual income (all occupations) of $48,068, advertising on Twitter may be worthwhile if your target market is higher-income earners.
That’s almost double the number of people with high school or less (15%) who say they’ve used the platform. A close second to college grads, 24% of those who have some college education say they’ve used Twitter, according to Pew Research Center.
Meanwhile, 25% of Americans who live in cities say they’ve used X. By contrast, just 13% of those who live in rural areas say they’ve used the platform.
Knowing how users engage with the platform can help you streamline your Twitter marketing efforts. Read on for essential stats on how long users spend on the platform, mobile usage stats, and content preferences, so you can effectively reach and engage your audience.
According to X’s own data, users spend 3.6 hours per week on the platform, which equates to more than 15 hours per month.
Those are hours you could be capturing with targeted ads and other marketing efforts on the platform. Make sure they’re mobile-friendly ads because that’s how most (80%) users access X.
It makes sense that premium subscribers who pay for extra privileges and features would spend more time on the app than non-subscribers.
As of May 2024, there are three price tiers for paid accounts, ranging from $3 to $8 per month. Each tier comes with its own set of benefits.
According to X, 4 out of every 5 user sessions include watching videos. Video usage on the platform is growing at an average rate of 35%, year over year. Meanwhile, time spent watching videos is up 17%.
The message is clear: If you want to engage your target audience on Twitter, video is the way to do it. Don’t have time to create video campaigns? Get help from a social media management agency.
Twitter stands out from other social media platforms as a top destination for news. More than half of all X users get news regularly on the platform.
More men (62%) than women (38%) turn to X for news; however, X stands out as having no significant partisan difference among news consumers on the site. Unlike on other social media sites, Democrat and Republican-leaning users turn to X for news in similar numbers.
According to X, in roughly the six-month period between September 2023 and March 2024, mobile time spent increased by 17%. The daily average of user time spent on the platform increased by 13% from last year as well.
Creating mobile-friendly content is more important than ever as X users increasingly access the app via mobile.
Engagement metrics are key indicators of how well your content resonates with X users. The stats below highlight tweet engagement rates, peak engagement times, and the impact of hashtags, to help you optimize your content strategy and boost audience interaction.
This is across all industries. Some industries had much higher engagement rates. For example, sports teams had a per-tweet engagement rate of 0.072%, followed by higher education, at 0.053%. Conversely, media, health & beauty, and home décor had much lower rates (0.09, 0.11, and 0.12, respectively).
Plan your content strategically and use precision audience targeting to improve your engagement rates on X.
This is the median number of tweets across several industries analyzed, from alcohol to fashion to travel, according to data from Rival IQ.
Some companies tweet, on average, much more than others. For example, media companies tweeted a whopping 50.2 times per week on average, while health & beauty companies tweeted just 0.4 times per week on average.
While frequent posting may seem like a good strategy, it doesn’t always result in higher engagement, according to the same report by Rival IQ. The key is to determine the optimal tweet frequency, based on your industry and target demo.
This is according to research by SocialPilot. The company analyzed more than 50,000 Twitter accounts and found that engagement was best in the morning (8 a.m. to 10 a.m.) and evening (6 p.m. to 9 p.m.) on weekdays. On weekends, early afternoon to early evening (11 a.m. to 5 p.m.) were best for engagement.
These times make sense, as many users are going to jump on X before and after work. The lesson here is don’t post at 2 a.m. and expect high engagement—unless you have a niche target audience. Do your research to find out what times are best to post for your target Twitter demographics.
This is higher than other platforms, according to data from Hootsuite. The tech sector leads the way on per-post engagement on X, likely because Twitter has historically been the go-to social media platform for tech news and updates.
By comparison, tech posts on LinkedIn had an average engagement rate of 1.27%, followed closely by Instagram at 1.25%. On TikTok, the average per-post engagement rate for the tech sector was just 0.44%.
Advertising on Twitter offers unique opportunities to reach a large and engaged audience. These ad stats provide insight into what X users respond to most, so you can create effective ad campaigns on the platform.
As reported by X, users are 7 times more likely to engage with an ad in vertical format compared to the same ad on the Home Timeline. This is likely due to full-screen viewability and the sound being on by default.
X also says that more than 100 million users watch vertical video on X every day, and vertical video makes up a whopping 20% of platform usage on some days. The takeaway: If you’re planning to advertise on Twitter, you need to be using vertical video ads.
We know it’s a mouthful, but “monetizable monthly active users” are simply accounts that have physically logged in at least once a month and aren’t bots. mMAUs see ads once they log into the platform, so they’re considered “monetizable.”
These users are a potential audience for your ads on the platform, so it’s worth parsing out how to reach them effectively.
That’s according to X. The company attributes this growth to a combination of algorithm changes and new products and partnerships, which are helping advertisers get better results.
This is good news for marketers who want to advertise on the platform in 2024.
According to data from eMarketer, the media blows other sectors out of the water when it comes to ad spend on Twitter. In the first half of 2023, media accounted for 32.4% of X’s total ad spend, followed by retail at 19.8%.
The lowest spenders were auto, telecom, and travel & tourism, with 0.5%, 3.1%, and 4.3%, respectively. If you operate businesses in the auto, travel, or telecom sectors, you’ll have less competition on X, which means your ads have greater potential to stand out from the rest.
Learn about how the Twitter algorithm works and partner with a Twitter marketing agency to get better results on the platform.
In March 2024, Elon Musk announced that all X accounts with over 2,500 verified subscriber followers will get Premium features for free. Accounts with over 5,000 will get Premium+ at no charge.
Since Premium users spend more time on the platform, marketers should focus on upping their Premium follower base with ads.
Socialfly can help you take your Twitter marketing efforts to the next level. Our team of digital natives will help you increase engagement and boost brand awareness on X, ultimately driving more traffic to your website.
We utilize advanced data-tracking tools to analyze the success of your campaigns, and we’re always looking for new and innovative ways to improve your brand’s social media strategy.
Check out our work and get in touch to learn more about how we can help you reach your target audience on X and get more for your ad spend.
To find your Twitter stats, locate “Analytics” in your profile. This will take you to Twitter Analytics, where you can view detailed data on your tweet activity, follower growth, and engagement metrics. Learn more about Twitter Analytics.
In 2024, Twitter has approximately 250 million daily users. People spend an average of 31 minutes a day on the platform.
More than two-thirds of X users (71.3%) are between the ages of 18 and 34, and the platform skews toward males, who represent 61% of users.
With 109.2 million active users, the United States has more X users than any other country, and 29% of those who say they use Twitter have a household income of $100,000 or more.
Yes. Despite recent developments, including a name change shakeup after Twitter’s acquisition by Elon Musk, the platform continues to be a valuable platform for both personal and business communication.
X’s real-time nature and relatively broad reach make it ideal for marketing, customer service, and news dissemination.
The top four topics on X in 2023 were sports, gaming, music, and food. If you own a business in one of these industries—whether you’re a restaurateur or a music venue owner, advertising on the platform could be worthwhile.
To find out whether people are already talking about your brand—or your competitors—monitor the platform for mentions. Or hire a social media marketing agency to help.
As of early June 2024, the top 3 most followed accounts were:
The list of the most-followed Twitter accounts is constantly changing, so check back periodically.
The following tips can help you develop a solid marketing strategy on Twitter:
A social media management agency can help with Twitter marketing by creating a comprehensive marketing plan tailored to your business goals.
This may include producing high-quality, engaging content that resonates with your audience, running targeted ad campaigns to maximize reach and ROI, and helping you build a loyal online community by engaging with followers and responding to comments.
A social media agency can also provide valuable insights and reports to measure how well your business is performing on X and recommend adjustments, as needed.
