So how many active Twitter users are there? Fewer than you might think, according to Business Insider. Twitter’s About page claims 175 million registered users, yet according to numbers from an unnamed source with access to the social media site’s API, the number of active users is far less. Here are estimates based on what they learned:
- 119 million accounts followed one or more Twitter accounts. 56 million followed no other accounts.
- 85 million accounts had one or more followers. 90 million had zero followers.
- 56 million followed 8+ accounts.
- 38 million followed 16+ accounts.
- 1.5 million followed 512+ accounts.
For context, the article author spoke with a Facebook insider who said the social network believes Facebook users won’t continue to use the site unless they have 10 friends. Based on that, assume an “active” Twitter user follows 8 or more accounts—that means the site has about 56 million active users.
One takeaway: With the hype associated with emerging social media platforms, brands need to be wary of investing time and effort into a site just because it can boast X number of users. Companies who invest in social media strategy need the online intelligence that guides them to precisely where they can connect with their customers—not just the places that blogs say a brand must be.
What’s your takeaway?