Andrew Hutchinson
Source: www.socialmediatoday.com, May 2024
Okay, this may not be an “official” update, as it’s only a passing comment made by Elon Musk, which always end up sparking media overreaction (which, of course, I’m playing into here).
But:
Elon claims that X is now up to 600 million monthly active users, and around 300 million daily actives.
Which is significant, because as of just two months ago, X reported having 550 million monthly actives, and 250 million DAU in official data about its usage.
X also reported reaching 500 million monthly users in March 2023, so based on these stats, X seemingly added 50 million more users in a year, but has now added another 50 million in just eight weeks.
In terms of DAU, that growth would be even more significant. X reported reaching 250 million daily actives in November 2022, which it reconfirmed in March this year, meaning that it had seen zero growth in daily actives for 16 months.
But it’s now added an additional 50 million daily actives, according to this note.
Which, again, is not really an official statement, and Musk is also pretty vague on the daily actives count. But if this is correct, then X is seemingly growing, which would be a big endorsement for the new direction of the former bird app
Because X needs users. Reports indicate that X’s ad revenue is still down by around 50% on pre-Elon levels, and building its audience reach would definitely provide an additional lure to get more of the big players, in particular, coming back.
Or course, it’s primarily Musk’s own posts and statements that have driven its ad partners away, but many would likely forego their moral stances if the opportunity was just too significant to pass up.
And on balance, X, at present, isn’t that big a deal, in terms of comparative audience size, while it’s also, in some respects at least, been declining in relevance since Musk took over at the app.
But if X is actually gaining again, at a rate of 25 million more users per month no less, that’s significant, and could point to X re-establishing its popularity. That would vindicate Elon’s direction for the app, and point to expanding potential, but again, I’m not sure that this is an official, accurate register of X’s usage, as opposed to more of an estimation from Musk as a post response.
In any event, Elon says that X’s usage is rising, and at a significant rate.
That may be true, while it could also be an anomaly.
Or it could be an indicator that X is actually doing better than expected.
