In an intriguing revelation, Linda Yaccarino, the CEO of X (formerly Twitter), disclosed some hitherto undisclosed statistics about the company during an interview at Vox Media’s Code 2023 event. Yaccarino, who has been at the helm of X for a mere 12 weeks, candidly addressed the matter of dwindling daily active users since Elon Musk’s acquisition of the platform.
The figures painted a somewhat sobering picture, as X now boasts 225 million daily active users. This represents a substantial decline, amounting to tens of millions or an 11.6% decrease in users since the period immediately preceding Elon Musk’s takeover.
Elon Musk’s Twitter activity in the past had provided a glimpse into the platform’s vitality, with a pre-acquisition count of 254.5 million daily active users. However, this count has seen a notable reduction.
It’s worth noting that X had previously revised its daily active user count to 245 million. In her interview, Yaccarino alluded to daily active users ranging between 200 and 250 million, emphasizing the evolving landscape of the platform.
The decline in daily active users seems to persist even from the numbers Musk had shared last year during his tenure. In mid-November 2022, Twitter recorded 259.4 million daily active users, suggesting a loss of nearly 15 million users or a decrease of approximately 5.6%.
When queried about user metrics, Yaccarino deftly pivoted to other aspects, citing X’s thriving ecosystem of 50,000 communities and heightened user engagement since June.
On a more positive note, Yaccarino projected that X would achieve profitability in 2024. She stated, “Now that I have immersed myself in the business, and we have a good set of eyes on what is predictable, what’s coming is that it looks like in early ’24, we will be turning a profit.”
In a reassuring development for the platform, Yaccarino disclosed that “90% of the top 100 advertisers have returned to the platform in the last 12 weeks alone.”
This revelation underscores the dynamic nature of social media platforms and the challenges they face in retaining and attracting users in an ever-evolving digital landscape.
