Twitter Is Losing Its “Heavy Tweeters” And Facing Trouble With Content

Twitter is currently busy with its acquisition deal "on good faith" basis. Musk, on the other hand, has some serious plans for the micro-blogging network, which might involve letting go of the majority of Twitter's workforce. It appears Twitter may have an even bigger problem than losing 75% of its employees. The social media platform is losing its loyal and frequent users for multiple reasons which might be beyond Twitter's control. The platform is also facing trouble with content.

Twitter Is Losing Its "Heavy Tweeters"

According to internal Twitter research, seen by Reuters, the platform is struggling to keep its active users engaged and tweeting frequently. In other words, Twitter's "heavy tweeters" could be falling behind their daily tweet count at a concerning rate. Needless to say, this would be detrimental to Twitter as a social media platform and as a business.

It is interesting to note that "heavy tweeters" account for less than 10% of monthly overall users. However, this 10% of users send out 90% of the tweets. Moreover, these accounts are responsible for half of Twitter's global revenue. These users log on to the micro-blogging network almost every day of the week and send out at least three to four tweets every seven days.

Most of these “top” accounts tweet rarely and post very little content.

Is Twitter dying? https://t.co/lj9rRXfDHE

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 9, 2022

Incidentally, heavy tweeters are quite different from heavyweights on Twitter. While heavy tweeters log on regularly and send several tweets, the heavyweights have amassed millions of followers. These Twitter accounts do not tweet regularly, but when they do, their tweets are liked, shared, and retweeted by thousands of their followers.

Interestingly Elon Musk was well aware of the fact that even heavyweights on Twitter were tweeting less. He had tweeted about the same back in April.

Declining User Activity Just One Of Twitter's Troubles

Any social media platform's success is significantly dependent on its users being active. But Twitter's troubles stretch beyond just declining user activity.

Twitter seems to be facing trouble with content as well. Undesirable or inappropriate content is on the rise. In fact, NSFW (Not Safe for Work) topics are the "highest-growing topics of interest among English-speaking heavy users", indicated the report.

It is concerning to note that Twitter is one of the few major social media platforms that does not explicitly ban nudity on its service. It appears adult content comprises 13% of Twitter's content. While individual users may engage with such content, advertisers generally avoid such topics.

On the other hand, desirable content seems to be on the decline, and hence, such content is generating lesser engagement. Content about sports and entertainment has helped Twitter become the go-to source for breaking news, gossip, and celebrating sporting events. Needless to say, advertisers prefer such content.

Twitter's sustained success is based on its users being active on the platform. The company will have to think of ways to boost engagement. Currently, the platform seems preoccupied with the acquisition deal and boosting revenue.