Internal research: Twitter has been losing “heavy tweeters”, who tweet three to four times a week, since the pandemic began, masked by an overall growth in DAUs

“Is Twitter dying?” billionaire Elon Musk mused in April, five days before offering to buy the social media platform.

Reuters 2022-10-26 Sheila Dang

Context & Ripple Effects

Musk had already questioned whether Twitter was fading because highly followed accounts posted infrequently; the internal findings give that concern a more consequential measure in declining participation by frequent posters. Separately, Hollywood figures described Twitter as a high-risk, low-reward venue, pointing to pressure on a visible contributor group as well as on aggregate usage.

The significance is the gap between reach and supply: DAU growth can conceal a weakening base of people who generate recurring conversation. Later reports of falling traffic and Android daily users make that distinction more important than a single headline user count.

First-order effects

Twitter’s DAU growth becomes a less complete health metric, because the platform is losing users who supply posts several times a week.
Musk’s earlier concern about inactive high-profile accounts gains support from Twitter’s own research, sharpening scrutiny of the platform’s engagement quality during his takeover pursuit.

Second-order effects

Twitter’s product and creator-retention efforts face a more specific problem than acquiring users: retaining the frequent posters whose activity keeps timelines and discussions replenished.
For advertisers, a growing audience figure may be less persuasive if it masks reduced recurring participation, adding context to the later report that advertisers fled the platform and revenue fell.

Third-order effects

If platforms continue to separate audience growth from contributor retention, investor and advertiser assessment will shift toward measures of active content supply rather than DAUs alone.
The pattern points to a social-platform competition centered on retaining high-frequency contributors, with celebrity and other visible posters carrying outsized importance for public conversation.

The trend: Social platforms are being judged less by raw audience growth and more by whether they retain the frequent contributors who sustain engagement.

Discussion

@sheila_dang Sheila Dang on x
NEW: Twitter is struggling to keep its most active users - what it calls “heavy tweeters” - engaged on the platform, according to internal docs. It is the most important type of user. They are less than 10% of all users but account for 50% of revenue https://www.reuters.com/...
@wongmjane Jane Manchun Wong on x
Twitter has an internal definition on whether you're Very Online™ > A “heavy tweeter” is defined as someone who logs in to Twitter six or seven days a week and tweets about three to four times a week https://twitter.com/...
@mekosoff Maya Kosoff on x
as good as twitter can be it's no secret that it rewards cruelty and the worst-faith interpretation of whatever you're trying to pithily say so most times i end up coming down on the side of Don't Tweet. and that's why i only use it to post pictures of carmichael now https://twit…
@caseyjohnston Casey Johnston on x
Damn I have few notes: 1) it deprecate tweets with links, I used to come here to find stuff to read and now it's all just Trojan horse 457-tweet threads with the link to the article in the last one 2) see above re threads they are obnoxious to do and read https://twitter.com/...
@0xfoobar @0xfoobar on x
lmaooooooooooooooo https://twitter.com/...
@jacobsben Ben Jacobs on x
So if a “heavy tweeter” is 3-4 tweets per week, what do we call someone who does 3-4 tweets per daily thread. Asking for a friend. 👀 https://twitter.com/...
@carnage4life Dare Obasanjo on x
Twitter's most active users who generate 90% of tweets & 50% of revenue have been declining since 2020. Also content active users care about has shifted from world news, celebrity gossip & liberal politics to crypto & porn. In fact porn is 13% of tweets. https://t.co/OrojlvINmE
@semaforben Ben Smith on x
Has a social network ever reversed a decline? https://www.reuters.com/...
@martinsfp @martinsfp on x
But yeah, a lot of the people I know who used to be very active on here have ramped up their LinkedIn activity instead. https://www.reuters.com/...
@hpmacd Park MacDougald on x
Speaking as a low-midweight user the user experience has absolutely fallen off a cliff over the last six months. My timeline is just an endless procession of trending “funny” tweets from people I don't follow on subjects I don't care about https://twitter.com/...
@chad_hurley Chad Hurley on x
I guess it's time to build a Twitter clone. 🤷🏼‍♂️
@laurenweinstein Lauren Weinstein on x
@Chad_Hurley Much discussion about this in progress. The technical part is relatively straightforward, it's establishing a practical policy foundation in our toxic political environment that is a serious challenge.
@joshgnosis Josh Taylor on x
Not based on some of the people I see on this website... https://www.reuters.com/... https://twitter.com/...
@carnage4life Dare Obasanjo on x
I suspect that instead of people's tastes changing that instead people who use Twitter for news have churned while people who are looking for porn & crypto have been attracted to the platform. This is definitely a bad mix of interests & content for their ads business.
@tomgara Tom Gara on x
*nervously wipes sweat from brow* Yeah, man, imagine using twitter that much....some people are crazy https://twitter.com/...
@northmantrader Sven Henrich on x
I'm no expert but help key users not get harassed to death by bots might help. Just a thought. https://twitter.com/...
@marshallk Marshall Kirkpatrick on x
Not excited for a web where Google is challenged by TikTok and Twitter by LinkedIn. You can do a whole lot of super cool things with data from the former, not at all with the latter. We'll be much poorer for it if we have less visibility & experimentation. https://www.techmeme.co…
@doubleeph @doubleeph on x
“A “heavy tweeter” is defined as someone who logs in to Twitter six or seven days a week and tweets about three to four times a week, the document said” Bye 👋🏽 all https://twitter.com/...
@fred_delicious Fred Delicious on x
Bring described as a ‘heavy tweeter’ is the most devastating insult in the history of online https://twitter.com/...
@blgtylr Brandon on x
They touching grass. It's working, everybody. Keep it up. https://twitter.com/...
@whet Whet Moser on x
the weird thing about twitter to me is that for as long as i have been on it it has had the worst selection and presentation of ads of any medium i use, including tv and print https://twitter.com/...
@mathewi Mathew Ingram on x
Afraid to ask what they would call someone who logs in every day and tweets dozens of times a day — certifiable? 🤣 https://twitter.com/...
@amy_siskind Amy Siskind on x
Twitter is dying. Let Musk choke on it! https://www.reuters.com/...
@pkafka Peter Kafka on x
Look under the hood at twitter and... it's gnarlier then you think. And/Or: If you have the sense that this place is emptying out... you're right. “It seems as though there is a significant discrepancy between what I might imagine are our company values and our growth patterns.” …
@matthewbennett Matthew Bennett on x
On changes in attention patterns since the pandemic: https://twitter.com/...
@mikebutcher Mike Butcher on x
“Heavy Tweeters” are leaving Twitter, apparently. I wonder where they are going? Some say LinkedIn (more business value, less dumpster fires?). I'd say I get more value out of experts now (economy, Ukraine etc) and ignore the LULZ / troll crowd. https://www.techmeme.com/...
@risenrabbit @risenrabbit on x
if i recall correctly like half of the people who register a Twitter account barely post, most content here is produced by a small core of freaks https://twitter.com/...
@anne_theriault @anne_theriault on x
Yes, yes, many jokes to be made, but the culture/algorithm/whatever on this app increasingly rewards ironic cruelty and it just sucks to be here. Fine if you're a guy that thrives in the quote dunk economy, less fine otherwise, I guess https://twitter.com/...
@bruce_arthur Bruce Arthur on x
More harassment, misinformation and Nazis, layered over less moderation, should do the trick https://twitter.com/...
@seyitaylor @seyitaylor on x
the vibes are off. https://twitter.com/...
@jaycuthrell Jay Cuthrell on x
I've been on this platform since 2007. When I low leveled my Twitter in 2017, it wasn't random. What I sensed then told me the risk of least charitable interpretations as onramps to being made famous for outrage lulz was on a steep incline. So, now I #delete #ephemeral tweets. ht…
@katehalliwell Kate Halliwell on x
you gotta pump those numbers up those are rookie numbers https://twitter.com/...
@dloesch Dana Loesch on x
Maybe they shouldn't shadowban them or delete 30k of their followers in one night and they'd have more, I dunno ¯\_( ツ)_/¯ https://twitter.com/...
@emilygorcenski @emilygorcenski on x
WHERE DID THE TWEETERS GO, asks the company who has let hate movements flourish on here. WHY DID THEY STOP TWEETING DURING THE PANDEMIC, says the misinformation engine conductor https://zpr.io/...
@nevali @nevali on x
yes because they're consistently user-hostile in their strategy, what on earth did they expect? they've never once listened to how and why non-celeb heavy users actually use the platform and sought to improve that experience, people stick around *in spite* of what Twitter do http…
@scalzi John Scalzi on x
It's because it's not fun anymore for a lot of the people who made it fun to be here. I miss a lot of the people who used to be here who left because it had just become exhausting. https://www.reuters.com/...
@marvelle Marshall Maher on x
Like when doctors tell you that your totally-lowballed drinks per week number constitutes “problem drinking” https://twitter.com/...
@robpegoraro Rob Pegoraro on x
If only three to four tweets a week rates as “heavy” to Twitter management, am I in the “obese” or “man-blimp” category? https://twitter.com/...

Chronicles