It’s been a wild ride since the blue bird was retired. You’ve probably seen the headlines or heard the rumors that everyone is packing up and moving to Threads or Bluesky. But if you open the app formerly known as Twitter today, it doesn’t exactly feel like a ghost town. It feels more like a chaotic, high-stakes house party where half the guests are arguing in the kitchen and the other half are just lurking by the snack table.
So, has Twitter lost users? The answer isn't a simple yes or no. It’s a mess of shifting demographics, declining daily engagement, and a massive gap between people who "have an account" and people who actually use it.
The Raw Numbers: Growth vs. Reality
Honestly, tracking X’s user base is kinda like trying to hit a moving target while wearing a blindfold. Ever since Elon Musk took the company private in late 2022, we don't get those tidy quarterly earnings reports anymore. We have to rely on third-party data from folks like Apptopia, eMarketer, and Sensor Tower.
Basically, here is what the data tells us as of early 2026:
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The platform still has a massive footprint, with an estimated 557 million to 561 million monthly active users (MAUs). If you just look at that number, it seems like X is doing fine. It actually saw a weird surge in late 2024 that boosted those totals. But "monthly active" is a very generous metric. It includes anyone who accidentally clicks a link in a Google search and lands on a tweet.
The real story is in the Daily Active Users (DAUs). This is where the bleeding is obvious. Recent June 2025 data showed daily mobile users dropped to around 132 million, which is a significant 15% dip year-over-year. In the US alone, some forecasts suggest a steady decline, with the platform losing millions of loyalists who used to check the app every single morning.
Why People Are Walking Away
It’s not just one thing. It's a "death by a thousand cuts" situation. For a lot of people, the vibe just shifted too much.
- Content Moderation (or lack thereof): Since the takeover, the moderation team was slashed from over 2,200 people to around 1,200. The result? A lot more spam, bots, and "Community Notes" trying to keep up with a flood of misinformation.
- The "X-odus" in Europe: This is a big one. Between August 2024 and March 2025, X lost about 11 million users in Europe. Countries like France and Germany saw millions of people deactivate, mostly over concerns about the EU's Digital Services Act (DSA) and a general dislike of the platform’s new political leaning.
- Brand Safety: When big names like Disney, Apple, and Coca-Cola paused their ads, it didn't just hurt the wallet; it hurt the content. Fewer high-quality brand interactions mean the feed starts feeling a bit... cheap.
The Great Gender and Age Gap
One of the most surprising things about X in 2026 is how much the "who" has changed.
Twitter used to be fairly balanced. Not anymore. Today, the platform is roughly 64% male and 36% female. That gap has widened significantly since the rebrand. If you feel like your feed is becoming a bit of a "bro-zone," the stats actually back you up.
Age is another factor. X is still very much a young person's game—about 70% of users are under 35. However, teenagers are ditching it. Only about 17% of U.S. teens say they use X now, compared to 33% a decade ago. They’ve moved to TikTok and YouTube. X is increasingly becoming the home of the "millennial news junkie" and the "crypto-finance guy."
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Is the Competition Actually Winning?
For a while, everyone thought Threads was the "Twitter killer." It’s definitely growing—boasting over 320 million monthly users by early 2025. It’s got the scale because it’s tied to Instagram. But let’s be real: Threads often feels like a corporate-sanctioned version of social media. It lacks the "breaking news" grit that kept Twitter relevant.
Then there’s Bluesky. It’s the darling of the "old Twitter" crowd. It hit 20 million users in late 2024 and has been growing fast since the 2024 election cycle, recently crossing the 23 million mark. It's still tiny compared to X, but the intensity is there. People on Bluesky are actually posting, not just lurking.
The "Lurker" Problem
This is the nuance most people miss. X has a massive "lurker" problem. Research shows that 90% of the content is produced by just 10% of the users.
While the total number of people visiting the site remains high—it’s still one of the top 10 most visited websites globally—people are spending less time there. The average daily usage has plummeted from over 30 minutes to around 11 to 15 minutes for many segments. People pop in to see what's trending, get annoyed or bored, and pop back out.
What This Means for You
If you’re a creator or a business, the strategy has to change. You can't just post and pray anymore.
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Actionable Insights for the "New" X:
- Stop Chasing Likes: Engagement rates have crashed by nearly 48%. If you aren't getting the "hearts" you used to, it’s not just you. The algorithm and the user behavior have shifted.
- Focus on "Intensity" over Reach: X is still the king of real-time PR and news. If you need to reach journalists, tech enthusiasts, or political junkies, you stay. If you’re trying to sell lifestyle products to Gen Z women, you’re probably wasting your time.
- Watch the Geography: If your audience is in Japan or India, X is still massive and actually quite stable. If your audience is in rural France or the UK, you might want to start building a backup on Threads or LinkedIn.
- Diversify Now: Don’t let X be your only "town square." The platform is volatile. Start mirroring your important updates on a decentralized platform or a newsletter.
X isn't dead. It's just evolving into something much more niche and polarized. It’s less of a global town square and more of a specialized arena. Whether that's a place you want to spend your time depends entirely on who you’re trying to talk to.