How Many People Have Left Twitter? (2023 Data)

If you‘ve been active on Twitter lately, you may have noticed things look a little quieter. The raucous town square vibe feels more like a half-empty auditorium. What‘s going on?

The data shows a clear trend – Twitter is losing users, and losing them fast. Let‘s take an in-depth look at just how many people have left Twitter in the past few years and why this mass exodus is happening.

Twitter Hit a Peak of 336 Million Users in Early 2018

First, let‘s establish when Twitter reached its peak number of active monthly users. According to the platform‘s own former reporting, here is how Twitter‘s monthly active user (MAU) base expanded up until the first quarter of 2018:

• 140 million MAUs in 2014
• 307 million MAUs in 2017
• 336 million MAUs in Q1 2018 – the all time high

Based on this data from Twitter itself, Q1 2018 represents the peak of Twitter‘s user base, at 336 million MAUs.

That‘s the high water mark we‘ll measure their decline against. Now let‘s dive into the data on how many users have left since then.

Over 100 Million Twitter Users Have Left Since 2018 Peak

While Twitter‘s user numbers continued to grow until hitting that 2018 peak, it‘s been largely downhill ever since.

Let‘s examine the decline in Twitter‘s logged monthly active users since early 2018:

• Twitter hit 336 million MAUs in Q1 2018

• Just 3 quarters later, in Q4 2018, the user base dropped to 321 million MAUs. That‘s a loss of 15 million users in just 3 quarters.

• Fast forward to Q2 2022, and Twitter‘s self-reported monetizable daily user base was 237 million.

• While this mDAU metric makes an exact comparison difficult, the vast majority of experts agree Twitter has lost at least 100 million MAUs since its 2018 peak.

• By Twitter‘s own numbers, they have likely lost over 30% of global users in just the past 4 years.

This massive user decline is unprecedented for a platform of Twitter‘s scale. And as we‘ll explore next, it is continuing to accelerate.

Over 1 Billion Daily Tweets Have Disappeared Since 2020

Another way we can measure Twitter‘s decline is by looking at how much overall activity and content has fallen on the platform.

Let‘s examine Twitter‘s self-reported global daily tweet volume over the past few years:

• 2017 – 500 million tweets per day
• 2018 – 500 million
• 2019 – 500 million
• 2020 – 1.2 billion (pandemic spike)
• 2021 – 500 million
• 2022 – Under 300 million (The Washington Post estimate)

Global daily tweets jumped to 1.2 billion at the height of the pandemic in 2020, before retreating back to 500 million in 2021.

But then tweet volume continued to plummet in 2022 to around 300 million per day – a massive decline of nearly 1 billion tweets from the prior peak.

This reveals engagement and activity have slowed right alongside user growth, pointing to across-the-board Twitter fatigue.

And additional data shows it is Twitter‘s most active users who are dropping off the fastest…

Most Tweets Come From a Small Share of Users

If you‘re a regular Twitter user, you‘ve probably noticed the same accounts dominating your feed. That‘s because Twitter‘s content is generated by a relatively small number of "power users".

According to 2021 research by Brandwatch:

• The top 10% most active accounts generate 80% of all tweets
• And the single most active 1% produce a whopping 25% of tweet volume

So the millions of tweets hitting Twitter daily are coming from a fraction of users. However, these power users are the ones now abandoning the platform fastest.

Twitter‘s own internal research from 2021, leaked to The Verge, found a:

• 20% drop in tweets from Twitter‘s "heavy tweeters"
• 30% increase in tweets from the bottom 90% of users

This demonstrates power users are tweeting much less or leaving entirely. And Twitter is becoming more reliant on casual users for content, who tweet much less frequently.

This shift likely explains how Twitter can lose so many millions of users yet still see daily tweet volume holding up, for now. But a platform loses relevance without its most engaged users generating content.

Younger Users Are Leaving Faster Than Any Age Group

Younger adults have been departing Twitter the fastest compared to any other age group.

Let‘s examine engagement trends for Twitter‘s crucial 16-24 year old demographic:

• This age group now spends 17% less time on Twitter per month versus 2020, per Twitter‘s leaked research
• Their time on rival apps like TikTok and Snapchat meanwhile has increased 30%
• Early 2021 vs late 2020, US teens increased their time on TikTok by 14% while decreasing time on Twitter by 17%, per internal data

Essentially, younger audiences are flocking increasingly to more image/video-centric apps like TikTok and Instagram where fresh trends and personalities emerge constantly.

Twitter likely seems stale to newer generations who never adopted it in the first place. These youth ditching Twitter for TikTok poses an existential threat for the platform.

Consider Snapchat as an example – after failing to attract teenagers for a period, even exclusive new features have struggled to bring them back from TikTok. Twitter may face the same uphill battle.

United States Users Have Started to Decline

Up until this past year, Twitter‘s core US user base was steady even as international growth stalled. But now even American usage is beginning to erode.

Take a look at Twitter‘s mDAU count in the US over the past few years:

• 2019 – 30 million
• 2020 – 37 million
• 2021 – 42 million
• Q2 2022 – 37 million

For the first time ever, Twitter saw a double digit percentage drop in American mDAUs this past quarter.

Losing US users is especially troubling because the country represents Twitter‘s most lucrative audience, generating over $5 billion in 2021 ad revenue.

A sustained decline in American usage and engagement risks destroying Twitter‘s financial foundation. Without US revenue, lower-value international users won‘t pick up the slack.

Toxicity, Harassment, and Moderation Issues Took a Major Toll

Why exactly are so many millions fleeing Twitter? The root causes likely include:

• Toxic discourse and rampant harassment – High profile mob harassment and constant partisan feuds became too much for many users.
• Content moderation – Controversies around banning political figures, managing misinformation, and dangerous speech drove users away across the spectrum.
• Lack of innovation – The core Twitter product and experience remained largely static while competitors like TikTok evolved more quickly.
• Competition – Speaking of TikTok, its meteoric rise as well as growth from Instagram Reels drew eyes away, particularly for younger demographics.

In summary, Twitter struggled to balance protecting free speech with keeping users safe from harassment. They failed to fix core product issues or evolve the platform fast enough to keep up with fresh competition. No wonder millions lost faith in the company and platform.

Twitter‘s Response Has Been Too Little, Too Late

Despite clear signs of serious user disengagement, Twitter leadership responded far too slowly. Just take a look at some warning signs Twitter‘s management largely ignored or downplayed:

• Total users stalled starting in 2018, but they dumped MAUs as a reporting metric in 2019.
• Their own research in 2020 uncovered concerns among young users, but bold changes didn‘t follow.
• Employees warned of serious product stagnation for years before any meaningful innovation.
• Toxic discourse spiked leading up to the 2020 US election, but interventions were modest at best.

In the rare instances Twitter tried addressing these issues, the efforts were minor or failed outright:

• Their ephemeral "Fleets" feature was discontinued after lackluster adoption.
• Experiments with hiding engagement metrics had little impact on usage.
• Hiring hardliners like Vijaya Gadde to lead policy made discourse even more divisive.

Because Twitter ignored clear warning signs and failed to enact bold changes, they find themselves losing the trust and attention of millions of users. Their product now feels stale and unsafe to many, especially younger generations.

Major social platforms normally enjoy monopoly-like status and are very difficult to disrupt. So Twitter‘s relative decline is historic and shocking. But when you analyze management‘s near complete lack of urgency, the writing was on the wall.

Twitter Will Struggle to Recover From Its Decline

As Elon Musk takes over Twitter, he has massive work ahead to turn around the platform‘s fortunes. But recapturing lapsed users will prove extremely difficult.

Once people quit engaging with social apps like Twitter, network effects usually keep them away for good. Without regular usage, they miss inside jokes, trending topics, and personalities that make the experience stick.

Just think of past giants like AOL, MySpace, or Orkut. After the world moved on, even major revamps couldn‘t bring users back.

Twitter is in a similar boat – product changes this late may be "too little, too late". They had years to address issues and evolve more boldly, but squandered that opportunity.

Of course Twitter still retains a highly engaged core user base and will likely continue on. But its days as a burgeoning platform with cultural relevance may already be in the rearview mirror.

Only a miracle turnaround would enable Twitter to recapture past glories. But right now, all signs point toward Twitter joining the likes of MySpace as a rapidly declining former tech giant users left behind for something new.

Key Takeaways

Let‘s recap the key data points showing Twitter‘s historic user decline:

• Twitter hit an all-time peak of 336 million monthly active users in Q1 2018.

• Since then, over 100 million users have left based on comparing Twitter‘s MAUs to current mDAUs.

• Their daily tweet volume declined by around 1 billion tweets from the 2020 peak.

• Younger users are ditching Twitter fastest, flocking instead to apps like TikTok.

• US users declined over 10% for the first time ever in 2022.

• Dropping engagement among Twitter‘s "power users" shows core users losing interest.

• Toxicity issues, lack of innovation, and competition from TikTok/Instagram Reels have driven people away.

• Twitter management largely downplayed warning signs and failed to turn things around.

• Now major long-term decline will be extremely difficult to reverse.

So while current core users remain active, Twitter‘s failure to retain past users or attract new ones represents a seminal tech industry fall from grace.

I‘d love to hear your thoughts on this analysis! Let me know if you have noticed Twitter declining where you live. And what reasons do you think most contributed to this downward spiral?

The data clearly shows Twitter is in serious trouble. But the platform still retains potential if someone can master the fix.