Twitter is a real-time microblogging platform, publicly launched in July 2006. At launch, its defining features were the tight limits placed on each post, known at a tweet. Originally, users could only use 140 characters, although that was doubled to 280 in 2017.
Formed by former Odeo employees Jack Dorsey, Noah Glass, Evan Williams and Biz Stone, the site originally used SMS to send tweets onto the network. It received its first boost of users at SXSW 2007, when the founders showed all the tweets hitting the network in real-time.
From there, Twitter grew out its userbase to reach over 300 million monthly active users. It added new features, but for the most part has retained the same look and feel of early Twitter, much to the chagrin of shareholders who have wanted Twitter to be more competitive with Facebook.
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Optimize your UA campaigns with SkipperTwitter has branched out into other areas of innovation, such as short-video with Vine or live-video with Periscope, but both were cancelled by Twitter. Some have argued that Twitter mismanaged both projects, as Vine came well before Music.ly and TikTok, but was unable to capture the market which was clearly there.
This may be partly due to the management of Twitter during that period, which included founder Jack Dorsey, then founder Evan Williams, then shortly after that Dick Costolo and followed by another Jack Dorsey turn. Dorsey was also CEO at Block Inc (previously Square), which led to complaints from shareholders and even a lawsuit.
Twitter is experimenting with new formats for tweets, such as donations and currency for tweets. It recently launched Twitter Spaces, a clone of Clubhouse’s live-audio platform, although Twitter has a poor track record for supporting anything outside the base platform.
That may change with the acquisition of Twitter by Elon Musk, which closed on October 27 with Musk paying $44 billion for the social network. Twitter has been taken private and Musk has outlined plans to half the amount of staff at Twitter, alongside potentially reviving Vine and making the blue-tick verification available to everyone for a price.
Musk has also mentioned potentially un-banning all banned for life accounts, which would include ex-President Donald Trump. This has spooked some advertisers, which have already pulled ads off Facebook and Instagram for placing their ad units next to extremist content.
We have collected data and statistics on Twitter. Read on below to find out more.
Twitter key statistics
- Twitter generated $5 billion revenue in 2021, an 35% increase year-on-year
- 92% of Twitter’s revenue came from advertising in 2021
- Twitter posted a net loss of $221 million in 2021, an 80% reduction on the $1.1 billion loss it reported in 2020
- Twitter has 206 million daily active users and 38 million users in the United States
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Twitter overview
| Title 1 | Title 2 |
|---|---|
| Launch date | 21 March 2006 |
| HQ | San Francisco, California |
| People | Elon Musk (CEO), Jack Dorsey (co-founder) |
| Business type | Private |
| Owner | Elon Musk |
| Industry | Social networking |
Twitter revenue
Twitter generated $5 billion revenue in 2021, a 35% increase on 2020 figures and a significant improvement on the 8% and 13% increase the two years before.
Twitter quarterly revenue 2012 to 2022 ($bn)
Twitter annual revenue 2012 to 2021 ($bn)
| Year | Revenue ($bn) |
|---|---|
| 2012 | 0.3 |
| 2013 | 0.6 |
| 2014 | 1.4 |
| 2015 | 2.2 |
| 2016 | 2.5 |
| 2017 | 2.4 |
| 2018 | 3 |
| 2019 | 3.4 |
| 2020 | 3.7 |
| 2021 | 5 |
Source: Company data, Social App Report
Twitter revenue by segment
The vast majority of Twitter’s revenue comes from advertising, although it did generate about $570 million from data licensing.
Twitter annual revenue by segment 2015 to 2021 ($bn)
| Year | Advertising | Data licensing & Other |
|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 1.9 | 0.2 |
| 2016 | 2.2 | 0.2 |
| 2017 | 2.1 | 0.3 |
| 2018 | 2.6 | 0.4 |
| 2019 | 2.9 | 0.4 |
| 2020 | 3.2 | 0.5 |
| 2021 | 4.5 | 0.5 |
Source: Company data
Twitter revenue by region
Even though only about 17% of Twitter’s users come from the US, it is responsible for more than 50% of the company’s revenues.
Twitter annual revenue by region 2018 to 2021 ($bn)
| Year | United States | Rest of World |
|---|---|---|
| 2018 | 1.6 | 1.4 |
| 2019 | 1.9 | 1.5 |
| 2020 | 2 | 1.6 |
| 2021 | 2.8 | 2.2 |
Source: Company data
Twitter profit
Twitter remained unprofitable for a second year in a row in 2021, but lowered its losses by 80% from the year prior.
Twitter annual net profit / loss 2012 to 2021 ($mm)
| Year | Net profit / loss ($mm) |
|---|---|
| 2012 | -79 |
| 2013 | -645 |
| 2014 | -577 |
| 2015 | -521 |
| 2016 | -456 |
| 2017 | -108 |
| 2018 | 1206 |
| 2019 | 1466 |
| 2020 | -1136 |
| 2021 | -221 |
Source: Company data
Twitter users
Twitter reports daily monetizable active users (dMAUs), excluding many users. It has approximately 450 million monthly active users.
Twitter quarterly users 2017 to 2022 (mm)
Twitter annual users 2017 to 2021 (mm)
| Year | Users (mm) |
|---|---|
| 2017 | 110 |
| 2018 | 122 |
| 2019 | 139 |
| 2020 | 186 |
| 2021 | 206 |
Source: Company data, Social App Report
Twitter users by region
While Twitter’s usage in the US has stagnated somewhat, its international usage continues to grow, with 169 million dMAUs outside of the US in 2021.
Twitter annual users by region 2017 to 2021 (mm)
| Year | United States | Rest of World |
|---|---|---|
| 2017 | 25 | 85 |
| 2018 | 26 | 96 |
| 2019 | 29 | 110 |
| 2020 | 36 | 150 |
| 2021 | 37 | 169 |
Source: Company data
Twitter age demographics
Twitter has a near parity between the age brackets of 18 to 44 years old, with 35-44 the highest age bracket by a slight margin.
Twitter age demographics 2021 (%)
| Age bracket | Percentage of Users |
|---|---|
| 13-17 | 7.8 |
| 18-24 | 25.2 |
| 25-34 | 26.6 |
| 35-44 | 28.4 |
| 45+ | 12 |
Source: Hootsuite and We Are Social
Twitter gender demographics
Twitter has one of the highest gender disparities out of all social networks, with 68.5% of all users being male.
Twitter gender demographics 2021 (%)
| Gender | Percentage of users |
|---|---|
| Male | 68.5 |
| Female | 31.5 |
Source: Hootsuite and We Are Social
Most followed Twitter accounts
Ex-US President Barack Obama remains the most followed Twitter account. Elon Musk has seen his following increase dramatically over the past two years.
Most followed Twitter accounts 2022 (mm)
| Account | Followers (mm) |
|---|---|
| @barackobama | 131 |
| @justinbieber | 114 |
| @katyperry | 108 |
| @rihanna | 106 |
| @cristiano | 99 |
| @taylorswift13 | 90 |
| @ladygaga | 84 |
| @ElonMusk | 82 |
| @narendramodi | 78 |
| @theellenshow | 77 |
Note: As of June 2022. Source: Company data
Twitter vs competitors: users
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Twitter FAQ
How many Americans use Twitter as a data source?
12 percent of Americans use it as a data source, according to Pew Research Center
How many brands use Twitter for marketing?
66 percent of brands with over 100 employees use Twitter for marketing purposes (eMarketer)
How much Twitter usage is mobile?
80% of Twitter usage happens on mobile devices (Google)
How many Twitter users in India?
There are 55 million Twitter users in India, according to App Annie
How much do the top 10% of Twitter users contribute?
In the US, top 10 percent of tweeters contribute 92 percent of tweets in 2020, up from 80 percent in 2018 (Pew Research Center)
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