Majority of Twitter's US users don't wanna tweet anymore, new study reveals

A majority of Americans who have used Twitter in the past year have reported taking breaks from the platform during that time, a recent survey by Pew Research Centre showed.

The survey, conducted about five months after billionaire Elon Musk acquired Twitter, sheds light on Americans' engagement with the social media platform.

The study found that six-in-ten Americans who have used Twitter in the past 12 months have taken breaks from the platform for several weeks or more. Approximately four-in-ten respondents (39 per cent) stated that they had not taken such breaks. The survey, which included US adults, was conducted from March 13 to March 19.

Notably, certain demographic groups exhibited varying tendencies when it came to taking breaks from Twitter. Gender, race and ethnicity played a significant role in these differences. Among current and recent Twitter users, women were more likely than men to have taken breaks from the platform in the past year, with 69 per cent of women and 54 per cent of men reporting such breaks.

However, the survey found no significant differences in terms of age or political affiliation regarding taking breaks from Twitter.

These findings arrive amidst ongoing debates and speculation, even from Elon Musk himself, about the future of Twitter. Since Musk's acquisition of the platform, several celebrities have publicly announced their departures, and popular accounts have experienced unusually large fluctuations in follower counts, among other changes.

The survey also inquired about respondents' likelihood of using Twitter a year from now. The results indicated that 40 per cent of current or recent Twitter users stated they were extremely or very likely to use the platform in a year, while 35 per cent considered themselves somewhat likely. Conversely, a quarter of respondents expressed that they were not very or not at all likely to be on Twitter a year from now.

Breaking it down by gender, a higher percentage of women compared to men claimed it was unlikely they would use the platform in a year (30 per cent vs 20 per cent). Conversely, men who are current or recent Twitter users were more inclined than women to state they would likely use the platform a year from now (47 per cent vs 31 per cent).

Furthermore, the study found that current or recent Twitter users who had not taken breaks from the platform were more than twice as likely as those who had taken breaks to predict that they would still be on Twitter a year from now (63 per cent vs 26 per cent). Only 8 per cent of respondents who had not taken breaks from Twitter expressed that it was unlikely they would use the platform in a year.

Regarding age, minimal differences were observed in respondents' predictions about their Twitter usage in a year.