Women most likely to skip using Twitter

Author Moonshot.news

Published on: 18/05/2023

Twitter has had a turbulent period under new owner Elon Musk. A new survey shows a majority of American Twitter users in the past year took a break from the platform and a quarter say they are not likely to use it a year from now. Women are more likely than men to have taken a break, the survey from Pew Research Center shows.

Six-in-ten Americans who have used Twitter in the past 12 months say they have taken a break from the platform for a period of several weeks or more during that span.

Some groups are more likely than others to say they have taken a break from the platform, with especially pronounced differences by gender, race and ethnicity. 

Among current and recent Twitter users, women are more likely than men to say they have taken a break from the platform in the past year (69% vs. 54%). 

And Black users (67%) are more likely than their White (60%) or Hispanic (54%) counterparts to say the same. 

“There are no significant differences by age or political affiliation when it comes to taking a hiatus from the platform”, the Pew says.

“These findings come amid debates in the media and even questions posed by Musk himself about whether Twitter is “dying.” Since Musk acquired the platform, some celebrities have publicly announced their departures from the site and popular accounts have reported abnormally large gains and losses in followers, among other changes.”

The survey also asked current and recent Twitter users how likely they are to use the platform a year from now. 40% say they are extremely or very likely to use the site in a year, and 35% say they are somewhat likely to use it. But a quarter say they are not very or not at all likely to be on Twitter a year from now.

Among current or recent Twitter users, a larger share of women than men say it is unlikely they will be on the platform in a year (30% vs. 20%). Conversely, current or recent Twitter users who are men are more likely than women to say they likely will use the platform a year from now (47% vs. 31%).

Greater shares of current or recent Twitter users who are Democrats or Democratic-leaning say it is unlikely they will be on Twitter in a year compared with their Republican counterparts (29% vs. 20%). Current or recent users who are Republican or Republican-leaning, in turn, are more likely than Democrats to say it is likely they will use the site a year from now (45% vs. 36%).