Before planning an effective marketing strategy for any social platform, you need to understand who is using it and how. Here are the most important Twitter statistics you need to know to understand how and why people are using this social network in 2021.
General Twitter statistics
1. Twitter has 353 million ad audiences
This number has increased by 8% since the third quarter of 2020, with an increase of 27 million users.
This number is an estimate based on Twitter’s self-service advertising tools by Moyens I/O and We Are Social.
The number Twitter publishes to describe its target audience is “daily redeemable active users” (or mDAUs). This number is 187 million, up 29% from the previous year, as of Twitter’s 3rd Quarter 2020 report.
Source: excitement
2. Twitter’s user base is expected to grow 2.4% in 2021
eMarketer initially predicted Twitter would see 2.8% growth in 2020, but the pandemic has changed everything. In October, they revised their 2020 forecast to 8.4% growth.
With 2.4% growth in 2021 and then 2.0% in 2022, things should slow to a more normal pace.
Source: eMarketing
3. 90% of the US population is familiar with Twitter (even if they don’t use it)
In fact, that’s a drop from last year, where 92% of Americans said they were familiar with Twitter.
For reference, 95% are aware of Facebook and 91% are aware of Instagram.
4. Twitter is the 6th Mobile App
It depends on the number of active users per month. This is a global ranking, but does not include China, a market with many apps not found in the rest of the world.
5. Twitter will turn 15 in 2021
Launched in March 2006, Twitter hit the ten-and-a-half mark this year.
6. Twitter ranks 7th on the digital platform (9) for digital trust
This is not great. Only TikTok and Facebook are worse off. Only about 57% of US users strongly agree that Twitter protects their privacy and data.
Twitter user statistics
7. 68.7 million (or 19.4%) of Twitter users are based in the USA.
That makes Americans the largest percentage of Twitter’s user base.
Japan and India are the company’s second and third largest markets.
However, European markets may be catching up – because…
8. Twitter’s German audience increased 30% in Q4 2020
This is the largest increase in all Twitter markets worldwide. There are currently 5.45 million Germans using this social platform.
9. Twitter has more male users (70%) than female users (30%)
About ¾ of Twitter’s target audience is male, and this is an important consideration when considering how you can use the network to connect with your specific audience. (Male and female are the only options for Twitter reports for gender.)
In the US, the difference is smaller: 54% of Twitter users in the US are male and 43% female.
In Canada, the difference is even smaller: 43% of Canadian online men have a Twitter account and 41% of Canadian online women.
For a broader view of Twitter users, see the detailed breakdown of Twitter demographics.
10. 21% of adults in the US use Twitter
This percentage has remained relatively stable over the past few years, dropping slightly to 19% in 2019.
This makes Twitter sixth in terms of US population usage. More Americans are using Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Pinterest and LinkedIn.
11. 42% of Twitter users in the US have a college degree
And only 25% have no college education.
12. 42% of Canadian adults online have a Twitter account
Like their American counterparts, Canadian Twitter users are likely to have a high annual income (over $60,000) and a college degree.
13. 28.9% of Twitter viewers are between the ages of 25-34
This is the largest age segment, followed closely by 35-49 year olds with 28.2%.
Men outnumber women in all age categories, but especially in these two largest groups.
Source: Moyens I/O/We Are Social
14. American Twitter users are more likely to be Democrats than Republicans
In the United States, Twitter users are much more likely to lean to the left of the political spectrum. 65% of US adult Twitter users are Democrats or weak Democrats and 33% are Republicans or weak Republicans.
Democrats on Twitter are also more left-leaning than their non-Twitter peers.
15. 99% of Twitter users also use at least one other social network
Twitter users don’t work in a vacuum. 87% of them also use Facebook and 84% use Instagram.
This creates opportunities for effective remarketing campaigns.
16. Twitter is the #1 social platform in Japan
While Facebook dominates in North America, Twitter ranks top in Japan with 64.1% of social network users. In fact, over 25% of Twitter users live in Asia-Pacific.
Twitter usage statistics
17. 9.6% of US adults significantly increased their Twitter use during the pandemic
2020 has been a year of increased social media usage overall, but Twitter hasn’t taken as much of a hit as more visual platforms that provide more fun doomsday scrolling.
Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Pinterest, and TikTok saw larger increases in usage in the early days of COVID-19.
Source: eMarketing
18. Twitter 925,700 accounts suspended in the first half of 2020
This is a 6% increase over the last half of 2019. Many of these accounts have been suspended for “hateful behavior”.
19. 92% of US tweets come from 10% of Twitter users
According to Pew Research, the average user tweets once a month, while the most productive Twitter users tweet 157 times.
These heavy Twitter users are much more likely to lean towards Democrats than Republicans.
Source: Pew Research Center
20. 5% of Twitter users in the US say it’s the social platform they use most often
Compare with 54% for Facebook. 5% of Twitter has not changed since 2018.
21. 17% of Americans get their news from Twitter
And worldwide, 12% of people use Twitter as their news source. This puts Twitter behind Facebook (36% worldwide), YouTube (21%) and WhatsApp (16%).
It’s interesting to note that Instagram is making a profit on Twitter as a news source, with the two networks virtually interconnected for news use since 2019.
Source: eMarketing
Here’s a different but relevant statistic: 59% of Twitter users regularly hear from the platform. This is the highest among social networks.
So Twitter is not the social network that Americans use. But getting news is an important feature of the platform for existing Twitter users.
22. 50% of Canadian Twitter users access the platform daily
23% access weekly and 26% less than once a day.
23. 70 million Twitter accounts follow Twitter Topics
That’s a 40% increase between Q2 and Q3 2020. There are over 5,100 Threads to follow.
Twitter for business statistics
24. 82% of B2B content marketers have used Twitter for organic content marketing in the last 12 months
Twitter is linked to Facebook for this Twitter job statistic. Only LINKedIn ranks higher with 96%. But…
25. 27% of B2B content marketers have used Twitter ads in the last 12 months
We just told you that Twitter is linked to Facebook for B2B organic content marketing. Far behind for paid Twitter ads: 67% of B2B marketers use Facebook ads, compared to only 27% using Twitter.
If you’re marketing to a B2B audience, here may be some untapped market space for you to explore.
26. 19% of retail banks have a dedicated Twitter customer service arm
This is in addition to their main account.
Twitter is an effective channel for social media customer service, and a dedicated service account can help ensure your team responds quickly to incoming requests.
Twitter ad statistics
27. Twitter ads can reach 5.8% of the world’s population over the age of 13
It’s not the biggest among social networks, but it still has a significant audience – especially when you find the right niche.
28. Twitter’s ad revenue increased by 15%
Advertisers spent $808 million on Twitter in the third quarter of 2020, based on “return from events and increased product launches.”
Most of this ad revenue comes from the US, followed by Japan.
29. Twitter ad engagement increased by 27%
According to Twitter’s Q3 2020 report, users are increasingly interacting with ads on Twitter. At the same time, Twitter says its CPE (cost per interaction) has dropped 9%.
Twitter points to price drops in most ad formats and audience growth for those numbers.
If your Twitter marketing strategy can benefit from cheaper and more engaging ads, you may want to check out our guide to using Twitter ads.
30. Twitter website saw average carousel ads 15% increase in CTR over single-item ads
The increase for app carousel ads was 24%. Both of these numbers come from Beta testing of Twitter’s new ad format, which launched in November 2020.
Twitter post statistics
31. #COVID19 The most used hashtag of 2020followed by #BlackLives Matter
#COVID19 has been used nearly 400 million times.
Pew Research has found that #BlackLivesMatter is used an average of 3.7 million times per day from May 26 to June 7.
Source: Pew Research Center
#StayHome was number 3.
With critical issues dominating the discussion, brands need to take light steps and think carefully about how they use social platforms. As we explain in our 2021 Social Trends Report, silence can be golden.
32. had 7,000 Tweets about TV or movies every minute in 2020
While people used Twitter to talk about difficult and important topics in 2020, they also used it for fun and escape from reality.
It’s interesting to note that only one of the top 5 most discussed TV shows is from Hollywood: Grey’s Anatomy. The most discussed program was Big Brother Brasil.
Game of Thrones, Tiger King, and Stranger Things also made it to the top 10.
33. had 2 billion Tweets about sports in 2020
Even though many sporting events were cancelled, people still had a lot to say about the sport.
The most Tweeted about sporting event was the Super Bowl, and the most discussed team was the LA Lakers.
There was also more 2 billion Tweets about video gamesAn increase of 75% compared to 2019.
34. tweets about cooking Increased nearly 300% in 2020
Sourdough. Banana bread. People have filled their time with cooking this year, and increased kitchen time has led to a huge spike in cooking Tweets.
In one of the first weeks of pandemic restrictions, 500,000 Tweets about cooking and baking every day. And there is a daily average 29,000 tweets about chocolate.
Emojis related to food and drink have also taken a hit:
Source: @TwitterData
35. most tweeted emojis 😂 and 😭 of 2020
This is a lot of tears, both happy and sad. Here are the rest of the top 10 emojis from last year:
Source: excitement
36. Viewing videos on Twitter Increased 62% from 2019 to 2020
There was also a 72% increase in viewing time from year to year. The video definitely found its way onto Twitter.
Save time managing your Twitter presence by using Moyens I/O to share videos, schedule posts, and track your efforts. Try it for free today.
