Subscribe to our newsletter and stay informed
In a world of ever-evolving social media platforms, the fate of X (formerly known as Twitter) may be more complex than it seems. Recent data from Sensor Tower, as reported by The Wall Street Journal, reveals a 16% decline in daily active users for X in September, accompanied by a 2% year-over-year drop in average daily usage for Q3. But there's more to this story.
While Sensor Tower paints a picture of decline, other experts see a different narrative. A closer look by app intelligence provider Apptopia tells us that the drop in daily active users began around May, coinciding with the app's rebranding to X in July. But here's the twist: this decline doesn't appear to be about users fleeing; rather, it's about the challenge of attracting new users without the iconic "Twitter" name in app stores.
Moreover, Apptopia's estimates reveal that X's new competition, like Threads, isn't luring users away as expected. Surprisingly, only 10% of X users had experimented with Instagram's Threads, a rival to X, a month after its launch. Even this percentage dropped to 5% soon after Threads' release. Notably, when Threads did attract X users, they spent more time on X.
What's truly intriguing is that X's power users in the U.S. (the top decile of users in terms of activity) are still deeply engaged. They accounted for 72.4% of the total time spent among X users in the U.S., only a slight dip from 73.1% in January 2022.
In summary, despite the challenges and changes, X's daily active users in the U.S. are still spending quality time on the platform. From 18.8 minutes per day in January 2022, it grew to 20.6 minutes in September 2023.
