According to a recent study conducted by the Pew Research Center, the majority of Twitter users in the United States have taken a break from the platform since Elon Musk's acquisition.
Less Active Since Musk's Era
After Elon Musk took over Twitter, most highly active users have chosen to stay on the platform, but there's a catch: they have become less active in posting.
Pew Research Center conducted a survey revealing that six out of ten US adults who have used Twitter in the past year have taken a recent break from the platform.
Additionally, a quarter of them have expressed their reluctance to continue using Twitter in the upcoming year.
An analysis of user behavior reveals a noticeable decline in posting activity among the most active users (top 20% by tweet volume) following Musk's acquisition. Their average number of tweets per month decreased by approximately 25%.
However, despite the decline, eight out of ten of the most active adult Twitter users between January 1 and April 14, 2022, have remained among the most active users since Musk officially took over the platform in October 2022.
The same trend holds true for the top 10% of Twitter users, with around three-quarters of them remaining among the top 20% of tweeters since the buyout deal.
Prior to Musk's announcement of acquiring the platform, adult Twitter users mentioned him in a tweet only once on average between January 1 and April 13, 2022.
However, after the acquisition, references to Musk became much more frequent, with an average of three mentions between April 14 and October 26, 2022, during the acquisition process and an average of six mentions in the months following the sale.
Furthermore, individual analysis of adult Twitter users reveals that around 40% have mentioned Musk in a tweet since early 2022. This trend is particularly prominent among Republicans and Republican-leaning independents who utilize the platform.
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Partisan Differences
Despite Musk's takeover, tweeting activity remains concentrated among a small group of users. A minority of adult Twitter users in the US are responsible for the majority of content creation.
Following the acquisition, 20% of US adults on the platform have produced 98% of all tweets within this group. Democrats and Democratic leaners account for the majority (61%) of these highly active tweeters, consistent with the previous pattern.
There has also been a noticeable difference in tweet types based on political affiliation. Retweets are more prevalent among Democratic Twitter users, while replies dominate among Republicans.
Among all US adults on the site, approximately three-quarters of tweets consist of retweets (35%) or replies to other users (40%).
Original tweets account for 15% of the total, while quote tweets make up 9%. Notably, partisan differences are observed in the types of tweets posted, with Democrats favoring retweets (50%) and Republicans tending to engage in replies (61%).
The findings coincide with Elon Musk appointing Linda Yaccarino, a former NBCU executive, as the new CEO of Twitter. Yaccarino is set to assume her role in the upcoming weeks and is anticipated to leverage her expertise in the advertising industry to regain the trust of advertisers.
