Top Twitter Demographics That Matter to Social Media Marketers in 2018

Social media demographics change constantly. And Twitter demographics are no different. Facebook started as a college-only site. Now seniors are its fastest growing age range. Most TikTok stars may be teens, but grandmas are making moves, too.

So what about Twitter? In short, the Twitter population is younger, wealthier, and more educated than the average American. But the results are different outside the United States.

Get to know who’s on the platform to improve your Twitter marketing efforts. With knowledge of global Twitter user demographics you’ll have a clearer picture of who your brand can reach here.

As of the first quarter of 2020, Twitter has 166 million monetizable daily active users (mDAUs). Twitter defines mDAUs as “people, organizations, and other organizations… that are able to show ads.”

This represents a 24% growth from the previous year, the highest year-over-year increase on record. Twitter credits this growth to product improvements and online chatter about the COVID-19 pandemic.

Source: Twitter

This makes Twitter the 13th most used social media platform, with some 340 million users. Because Twitter does not publish general monthly active user data (MAU), this figure is based on the platform’s advertising audience reach.

Source: Hootsuite

In the United States, 80% of tweets are created by just 10% of users. Findings from Pew Research Center show that the average U.S. adult posts twice and favorites one tweet per month, follows 89 accounts, and has 29 followers. Some 13% of adults in the U.S. keep their accounts private.

Barack Obama is the most followed Twitter user (111,470,000 million followers), followed by Katy Perry (108,307,000 million followers), Justin Bieber (107,671,000 million followers), and Rihanna (95,188,000 million followers). But according to Brandwatch’s analysis, Taylor Swift was the most influential tweeter in 2019.

Source: Hootsuite

Read our report, The Global State of Digital 2020, for a comprehensive look at social media statistics. Or hone in on Twitter with these statistics.

The 25+ most important Twitter demographics for marketers

Twitter location demographics

Where do Twitter users reside? More than 80% of the platform’s mDAUs live outside of the United States. This is fairly consistent with other major social networks.

But with 33 million mDAUs, the United States is the site’s largest active audience. This holds true for ad audiences as well. The United States represents the largest population in terms of ad reach, followed by Japan, the United Kingdom, Saudi Arabia, and Brazil.

Source: Hootsuite

More Twitter location demographics to note:

• Most Twitter users in the U.S. live in cities, followed by suburban and rural areas.
• Twitter is the most popular “western” social media platform in Japan, following only Line and ranking ahead of Facebook and Instagram in popularity.
• Japan is also Twitter’s second largest market for ad revenue. In the first quarter of 2020, Japan accounted for 16.2% of total company earnings ($131 million).
• In India, Twitter reportedly has upwards of 30 million users
• It’s estimated that 3.2 million people in China have Twitter accounts, despite the platform being banned.

Twitter age demographics

What age group is Twitter most popular with? Millennials came of age with Twitter. So, unsurprisingly, they’re the generation that’s still the most active on the platform.

But this does change along gendered lines. At 19%, men between 25-34 years old are the largest Twitter age demographic (based on advertising audience data). That’s almost two times the number of women in the same age range. By contrast, at 12%, the prevailing Twitter age demographic for women is the 18-24 years old segment.

Source: Hootsuite

More Twitter age demographics to note:

• More than 80% of Twitter’s global population is under 50 years old.
• 44% of U.S. adults age 18-24 use Twitter.
• More teenagers are on Twitter in the U.S. than Whatsapp, Pinterest, LinkedIn, and Reddit
• Twitter ranks only slightly behind Instagram when it comes to 65+ users in the U.S. (7% vs 8%).

Twitter gender demographics

Twitter’s global audience skews male. According to its advertising audience data, the worldwide gender split is 62% male and 38% female.

• In the United States, the gender breakdown is 50-50, according to Pew Research Center.
• Among U.S. adults, the most prolific tweeters are more likely to be women: 65% of Twitter’s most active users are women.
• At the same time, U.S. women are also slightly more likely than men to have private Twitter accounts
• 85% of India’s Twitter ad audience is male, ranking the country third for highest male-to-female ratio
• Philippines, Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, Laos, and Brunei have the highest female ratio

Source: Hootsuite

Twitter income demographics

How much money do people on Twitter make on average? The answer is “above average”—at least in the United States. Pew Research Center data finds that Twitter users make 9% more than the average American.

• 41% of Twitter users surveyed earn a household income about $75,000 (vs. 32% overall)
• Only 23% of people on Twitter earn less than $30,000 annually (vs. 30% overall)

Twitter’s income demographics are pretty standard for most social networks, which typically count higher shares of higher earners among their ranks.

Twitter education demographics

Along with higher income, people on Twitter have above average credentials when it comes to education.

In the United States, 42% of Twitter users have at least a bachelor’s degree, compared with 31% of the general public. The majority of U.S. adults on Twitter users describe themselves as high school graduates. But since most are young, many may still have college degrees in their sights.

Source: Pew Research Center

The gap between high school and post-secondary educated users is a little more pronounced on Twitter versus other platforms (excluding LinkedIn). Most sites have a somewhat even spread of education levels. But Twitter has a markedly higher number of users who went beyond a bachelor’s degree than those in the college or high school tiers.

Source: Pew Research Center

Twitter ethnicity demographics

Is Twitter more popular with certain ethnic groups? Not really, at least in the United States.

The number of people who identify as white, black, and Hispanic are pretty evenly distributed. The Pew Research study breakdown is as follows:

Percentage of U.S. adults who say they use Twitter:

• White: 21%
• Black: 24%
• Hispanic: 25%

Not all social and messaging platforms have an even ethnic makeup. For example, on Whatsapp. Hispanics noticeably outnumber all other groups. According to eMarketer, there are 10 million more US Hispanics on WhatsApp than Instagram, and almost three times more than Twitter.

Source: eMarketer

Twitter political demographics

Which way do Twitter users lean politically? According to a Pew Research Center study, Americans on Twitter are more likely to identify as Democrats compared with the average American.

More than that, self-described Democrats on Twitter tend to be more liberal and less compromising than average.

Source: Pew Research Center

Along the same lines, Twitter users are more likely to say that black people are treated less fairly than white people, and that immigrants strengthen the United States, than the general public.

It’s worthwhile for brands to stay on top of the Twitter conversation. Twitter research finds that 93% of users are open to brands joining in, if done “the right way.”

Learn more about how Twitter’s overall user demographics compare with your account’s audience using Twitter analytics.

Save time managing your Twitter presence by using Hootsuite to expand your audience, provide timely customer support, and monitor your efforts. Try it free today.

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