The social media demographics are constantly changing. And the Twitter demographic is no different. Facebook started as a university-specific site. Seniors are now the fastest growing age range. Most TikTok stars may be young, but grandmas are making the move, too.
What about Twitter? In short, the Twitter population is younger, wealthier, and more educated than the average American. But the results are different outside the United States.
Find out who is on the platform to improve your Twitter marketing efforts. With knowledge of the global Twitter user demographic, you’ll have a clearer picture of who your brand can reach here.
How many Twitter users are there in 2020?
As of the first quarter of 2020, Twitter has 166 million monetizable daily active users (mDAU). Twitter defines mDAUs as “people, organizations, and other entities that can display ads…”.
This represents 24% year-on-year growth, the highest annual increase on record. Twitter credits this growth to product improvements and online conversation about the COVID-19 pandemic.
Source: Twitter
This makes Twitter the 13th most used social media platform with around 340 million users. Because Twitter doesn’t publish general monthly active user data (MAU), this figure is based on the platform’s advertising audience reach.
Source: Moyens I/O
In the United States, 80% of tweets are created by only 10% of users. Findings from the Pew Research Center show that the average US adult posts twice a month and tweets once a month, has 89 followers and 29 followers. About 13% of adults in the US keep their accounts private.
The most followed Twitter user is Barack Obama (111,470,000 million followers), followed by Katy Perry (108,307,000 million followers), Justin Bieber (107,671,000 million followers) and Rihanna (95,188,000 million followers). However, according to Brandwatch’s analysis, Taylor Swift was the most influential tweeter of 2019.
Source: Moyens I/O
For a comprehensive look at social media statistics, read our The Global State of Digital 2020 report. Or focus on Twitter with these stats.
25+ top Twitter demographics for marketers
Twitter location demographics
Where do Twitter users reside? More than 80% of the platform’s mDAUs live outside the United States. This is pretty consistent with other major social networks.
But with 33 million mDAU, the United States is the site’s largest active audience. This also applies to ad trackers. The United States represents the largest population in terms of ad reach, followed by Japan, the United Kingdom, Saudi Arabia, and Brazil.
Source: Moyens I/O
More Twitter location demographics to watch out for:
- Most Twitter users in the US live in cities, followed by suburban and rural areas.
- Twitter is the most popular “western” social media platform in Japan, ranking only behind Line and ahead of Facebook and Instagram in popularity.
- Japan is also Twitter’s second largest market in terms of ad revenue. In the first quarter of 2020, Japan accounted for 16.2% of total company earnings ($131 million).
- In India, Twitter reportedly has over 30 million users
- Despite the platform being banned, it is estimated that 3.2 million people have Twitter accounts in China.
Twitter age demographic
What age group is Twitter most popular with? Millennials came of age with Twitter. So, unsurprisingly, they are still the most active generation on the platform.
But this varies along sexist lines. Men aged 25-34 are the largest Twitter age demographic (based on ad audience data), at 19%. That’s almost twice the number of women in the same age range. In contrast, the Twitter age demographic for women is the 18-24 age segment, with 12%.
Source: Moyens I/O
More Twitter age demographics to watch out for:
- More than 80% of Twitter’s world population is under the age of 50.
- 44% of US adults aged 18-24 use Twitter.
- There are more teens on Twitter in the US than Whatsapp, Pinterest, LinkedIn, and Reddit
- For 65+ users in the US, Twitter lags slightly behind Instagram (8% versus 7%).
Twitter gender demographics
Twitter’s global audience is distorting men. According to ad audience data, the worldwide gender gap is 62% male and 38% female.
- According to the Pew Research Center, the gender distribution in the United States is 50-50.
- Among US adults, the most productive tweeters are more likely to be women: 65% of Twitter’s most active users are women.
- At the same time, US women are slightly more likely than men to have private Twitter accounts.
- 85% of India’s Twitter ad audience is male, and the country ranks third for the highest male-to-female ratio.
- Philippines, Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, Laos and Brunei have the highest proportions of women
Source: Moyens I/O
Twitter revenue demographic
How much money do people on Twitter make on average? The answer is “above average” – at least in the United States. Pew Research Center data reveals that Twitter users earn 9% more than the average American.
- 41% of Twitter users surveyed earn approximately $75,000 household income (versus 32% overall)
- Only 23% of people on Twitter earn less than $30,000 annually (versus 30% overall)
Twitter’s revenue demographic is pretty standard for most social networks; these networks typically count higher shares of high-income earners in their ranks.
Twitter education demographics
Besides higher income, people on Twitter have above-average credentials when it comes to education.
In the United States, 42% of Twitter users have at least a bachelor’s degree, compared to 31% of the general public. Most US adult Twitter users describe themselves as high school graduates. But as many are teenagers, many may still have a college degree in their eyes.
Source: Pew Research Center
The difference between high school and postsecondary educated users is slightly more pronounced on Twitter than on other platforms (excluding LinkedIn). Most sites have some degree of even distribution of education levels. However, Twitter has far more users with a bachelor’s degree than college or high school users.
Source: Pew Research Center
Twitter ethnicity demographics
Is Twitter more popular among certain ethnic groups? Not really, at least in the United States.
The number of people who identify as white, black, and Hispanic is fairly evenly distributed. The breakdown of Pew Research research is as follows:
Percentage of US adults who say they use Twitter:
- White: 21%
- Black: 24%
- Hispanic: 25%
Not all social and messaging platforms are of equal ethnicity. For example, on Whatsapp. Hispanics significantly outnumber any other group. According to eMarketer, there are 10 million US Hispanics on WhatsApp than Instagram and almost three times more than Twitter.
Source: eMarketer
Twitter political demographics
In which direction are Twitter users leaning politically? According to a Pew Research Center study, Americans on Twitter are more likely to describe themselves as Democrats than the average American.
On top of that, Democrats who self-identify on Twitter tend to be more liberal and less accommodating than the average.
Source: Pew Research Center
Likewise, Twitter users are more likely than the general public to say that blacks are treated less fairly than whites, and that immigrants strengthen the United States.
It’s helpful for brands to stay on top of the Twitter conversation. Twitter research shows 93% Percentage of users open to joining brands if done “the right way”.
Learn more about how Twitter’s overall user demographic compares to your account’s audience using Twitter analytics.
Save time managing your Twitter presence by using Moyens I/O to expand your audience, provide timely customer support, and monitor your efforts. Try it for free today.
To start
