5 Twitter Trends for 2022/2023: Latest Predictions According To Experts

What are the Twitter trends that businesses should be aware of? We’ll provide you the answers to these and more with our analysis of Twitter trends. In this article, we’ll explore the directions of Twitter as well as present predicted developments and what they mean for your business.

An understanding of where Twitter is today and where it is headed tomorrow is vital for businesses that use the platform through social media management tools. It is also equally important for those planning to use Twitter for marketing purposes to know what they are getting into. This is particularly important as more marketers turn to social media and digital channels after the COVID-19 pandemic altered the business landscape.

The facts and figures in our Twitter market research speak for themselves. You’re looking at a huge audience of over 330 million active monthly users that you can share your brand and message with. And that’s just for starters. We’ll go through many more interesting facts and figures in our Twitter trends report below.

Where is Twitter Today?

Worldwide, Twitter is only 16th among social media sites in terms of the number of users. It is outranked by giant social media networks from China with a membership count ranging from 481 million to 1.21 billion. These numbers aside, Twitter’s 353.1 million global active users as of January 2021 (Twitter, 2021) is still impressive as it is an increase from the recorded number of users in 2019, which was 290.5 million. On a daily basis, 192 million monetizable daily active users (mDAU) log into Twitter as of Q4 2020, a figure that’s also up from 152 million a year ago.

So how is Twitter holding up despite being overtaken membership-wise by newer and, for the most part, unknown social sites? We’ve all heard of Tik Tok, but QQ and QZone?

In its home country, Twitter still holds sway as among the most widely-used online platforms in the US (Pew Research Center, 2019), accounting for 22% of adults there. Among these American adults, 25% say they visit Twitter several times a day, 17% about once a day, and 58% less often. Still, the user base is relatively small compared to other social media sites which, inevitably, affected its bottom line.

The company’s net income was in the red from 2010 to 2017. But in 2018, Twitter achieved a net income of $1.2 billion compared to a net loss of $108 million the previous year. Earnings were driven by increases in revenues in advertising and data licensing.

Furthermore, 2020 proved to be a much more fruitful year for the social media company. The company ended the year with a revenue of $1.29 billion, representing a 28% year-over-year growth (Twitter, 2021). In all, the outlook for 2021 will depend on whether Twitter can sustain its gains, especially with the increase in the number of users.

According to marketing guru Jeff Bullas in his Twitter predictions, three factors will determine the direction for Twitter. These are the company itself, market forces or external developments, and trends in social media and social search. It is in the context of these factors that we’ve identified these Twitter trends.

1. Twitter remains a dominant site for news

A 2018 Pew Research Center study revealed some interesting insights. Nearly two-thirds or 68% of US adults get news from social media sites. One in five gets news there often (Pew Research Center, 2018). That much number of people who flock to social media for news is impressive despite the fact 57% think news there is largely inaccurate. In contrast, 42% think the news on social sites is largely accurate. Furthermore, a newer survey revealed that about half (53%) continue to rely on social media sites for news (Pew Research Center, 2021).

By the sheer number of their users, Facebook and YouTube are the top social sites that have become pathways to news, with 36% and 23% of social media users regularly getting news from them, respectively. Twitter ranks third, with 15% of users getting news from the site regularly. However, when it comes to sites with the most news-focused users, Twitter leads the pack with 59% of subscribers using the site for news, followed by Facebook, Reddit, Youtube, and Instagram (Pew Research Center, 2021).

By demographics, news consumers on Twitter are mostly in the 18-29 age group (39%), followed by those aged 30-49 (38%), and 50-64 (18%). Males (54%) slightly outnumber female (43%) Twitter news consumers, and most are college level or college graduates (42%).

Twitter is already the go-to site for live breaking news, trending news, or viral news. These cover the whole gamut of news from different fields—politics, world events, business, entertainment, etc. Often, world-breaking news complete with video or images will first be tweeted by on-site responders, participants, and eyewitnesses. You can follow a news event as it unfolds even before mainstream media picks it up.

It is the power of the live events and newsworthy content that is transforming Twitter into a news channel. And people, indeed, are turning to Twitter to consume news—from tweets of world leaders to protesters in certain parts of the world and the latest in COVID-19, sports, movies, games, celebrities, and more. Of course, these are on top of leading global news networks that deliver breaking news through their Twitter handles (AdWeek, 2013).

2. Less is still more

Reason for Twitter character limit expansion from 140 to 180

When the company expanded in 2017 the character limit of tweets from 140 to 280 characters, it sent a ripple through the Twitter-verse. Users thought that the company went against the core principles of Twitter, that of being the platform of brevity and accessibility. The original 140-character limit was set by Twitter founders in 2006 and maintained thereafter not only for branding purposes. It was meant to be an instant messaging software alternative to relay information fast.

Below were seen as the potential impacts of the character limit expansion (Hagerty Consulting, 2018):

Pros:

• More Tweet content – Not only are users afforded a longer message; they are also able to include other rich media such as videos, photos, and links.
• Fewer workarounds – Users won’t be limited to using shorthand abbreviations, multi-tweets or simply omitting content.
• More constant tweeting – Users are likely to tweet more frequently and make it easier for them to send tweets faster.

Cons:

• Diminished SMS Compatibility – Receiving longer messages can be an issue to those still using SMS-based communication devices.
• Longer time to craft messages – Crafting long messages lessens the speed of information distribution.
• More complex tweets – Simple and clear messaging may suffer.

The above benefits and drawbacks were made in the context of emergency management where concise messages and speed of writing and sending them are paramount. But they also apply in many other situations where brief messaging is advantageous.

However, the truth is that users stuck to the short form of tweets. Yes, people are tweeting more but not longer despite being given expanded space. In its Twitter Blog, the company noted that only 5% of users actually exceeded the standard 140-character limit and a measly 2% topped 190 characters (Twitter, 2017). In fact, an average tweet is only 33 characters long. In all, Twitter isn’t the platform for longer posts. If people wanted to read longer texts, they would likely go to Facebook.

3. Video advertising takes off on Twitter 

Video is increasingly used in Twitter

A HubSpot 2017 Content Trends Survey found out that the majority of consumers prefer to see video content from a brand or business they support (HubSpot, 2020). A more recent report found out that some 50% of consumers prefer to engage with video content on social media (Sprout Social, 2021). Video has revolutionized the way businesses promote their products and services. It has also transformed how marketers create and deliver content to reach consumers. In fact, it is estimated that 82% of the total worldwide internet traffic will be driven by video by 2022 (Cisco, 2020).

In general, Twitter is not the social media platform that comes to mind when it comes to video. This type of content is more associated with Facebook and YouTube. In Wyzowl’s State of Video Marketing 2019, marketers plan to use more the following social sites for video marketing in 2019 – YouTube (88%) and Facebook (78%), Instagram (67%), Twitter (43%), and Snapchat (10%) (Wyzowl, 2021).

However, despite its lower popularity ranking as a video platform, studies have shown the effectiveness of using Twitter for videos. One study has shown that videos on Twitter are 2x as memorable as those on other premium platforms (IPG Media Lab, 2016). Moreover, Twitter also reports that video is their fastest-growing advertising tool. There are more than 2 billion video views on the platform every day. This represents a 67% year-over-year growth (Twitter for Business, 2021).

Furthermore, tweets with video attract 10x more engagement than tweets without video while promoted tweets with videos save over 50% in cost-per-engagement (Twitter, 2018). These insights are sure to drive this social media site in the direction of a video-centric platform ideal for broadcasting and live streaming your brand.

Actually, this video trend on Twitter started when it acquired live video startup Periscope back in 2015. This allowed users to video stream live from their mobile phones, further empowering users to create onsite and in-moment video content. It has been reported that live content streaming on Twitter is increasing.

Best Social CRM Software

1. HubSpot CRM. This leading CRM software is ideal for any company that wants to get the best out of its investment. Read how it can help with your social media marketing and other marketing efforts in our HubSpot CRM review.
2. Freshsales. This platform is designed for high-velocity teams to enable them to resolve customer inquiries from different channels. Learn more about its functionalities in this Freshsales review.
3. Salesforce CRM. This solution consolidates every piece of information you gather from your customers. Find out how it can help you utilize customer data in our Salesforce CRM review.
4. Pipedrive. This software helps you prioritize deals so you can capitalize on them as much as possible. See other features in the suite in this Pipedrive review.
5. Nimble. With this software, businesses can build stronger relationships with customers on multiple channels. Explore other tools provided by the platform in our Nimble review.

4. Twitter is the #1 platform for discovery

A deal between Twitter and Google in 2015 allowed the latter to crawl data from the social media site. This means that users can get live feed results instead of just profile information when using Google’s search engine. Now Twitter also provides data to Yahoo! and Bing, further ramping up search results for tweets. What this translates to are opportunities to improve rankings and SEO. This, alongside other factors, has positioned Twitter as a leading platform for brand and information discovery (Twitter Marketing, 2019)

So how do you leverage Twitter to show up on Google search results and drive discovery of your brand? Below are some ways (Search Engine Land, 2018):

• Tweet consistently
• Interact with other Twitter accounts
• Tweet frequently
• Build up your base of followers
• Tweet interesting multimedia content
• Boost your engagement
• Tweet what gets more likes. replies, and retweets
• Use popular hashtags
• Tweet something of humor
• Use emojis

Currently, tweets from popular brands appear on Google searches. Some 30 out of the 50 top global brands have their Twitter account pages showing up on the first page of Google’s search results. It just goes to show that Twitter is emerging as a robust platform for engineering the identity of your brand or business. In other words, it is proving to be an excellent platform to manage your brand reputation.

5. Twitter is reestablishing its global relevance

Driver of global conversation: here’s a graph of global conversation about climate change on Twitter

In its IPO filing in 2013, Twitter’s owners described it as a “global platform for public self-expression and conversation in real-time.” Since it was launched in 2006, Twitter has grown beyond the bounds of self-expression and conversation. It has given us a new way of tuning into the world. Through those tweets—micro messages that can snowball into mass communication—Twitter has become the mouthpiece of the world live, in real-time. Furthermore, with many social media users now turning to Twitter for news about global events such as COVID-19, it is easy to see how the platform is now gaining back its relevance.

The Conversation cites six ways Twitter is transforming the world around us.

• Politics has found a digital platform on Twitter to organize mass actions (protests/rallies), raise political awareness, and spread political campaigns and messages.
• Science has taken advantage of Twitter for collecting data and information such as on urban flooding that can be simulated in the lab for better prediction/preparation.
• Business has used Twitter to get real-time consumer feedback as well as gauge sentiment regarding products and services.
• Journalism can now be practiced by anyone with a mobile phone, allowing the tweeting of newsworthy events by ordinary people on site. It can spread like wildfire faster than it can reach mainstream news outlets.
• Relationships good and bad, fake or real, personal or otherwise are forged in Twitter’s highly public social media platform, bringing out a whole new way of personally connecting with others.
• Celebrity culture blurred the lines between image and reality and introduced a new breed of celebrity endorsers.

Add Twitter to Your Overall Marketing Mix

All the above trends and directions are compelling reasons for you to include Twitter in your marketing. You may already be using social CRM software to collect data from social sites.

Maybe you are implementing social media monitoring solutions to effectively feel the pulse of your audience on various social networks.

Furthermore, you may be already utilizing content marketing platforms to create and publish brand and product-related content on leading social sites.

Whatever marketing tactic and solutions you use, don’t forget to include Twitter in your marketing mix. Our analysis of the Twitter trends shows it to be a solid platform for you to reinforce your brand, promote your business, and build your audience. This is particularly important now that practically all businesses have recognized the benefits of digital and social media marketing amid the COVID-19 pandemic (U.S. Chamber of Commerce).

If you’re still not on Twitter, now is the time to put your business on the site and harness its tools and potentials for your benefit.

References:

1. Alton, L. (2021). How video is reshaping digital advertising. Twitter for Business.
2. Chen, J. (2021, February 3). 36 critical social media statistics to fuel your 2021. Sprout Social.
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5. Collins, A., & Conley, M. (2020, October 12). The ultimate guide to video marketing. HubSpot Blog.
6. Dziedzic, P. (2018, July 20). From 140 to 280: How will Twitter’s increased character count impact disaster communications? Hagerty Consulting.
7. Forstadt, A. (2020, September 3). Using social media to promote small business during COVID-19 [Interview]. https://www.uschamber.com/co.
8. IPG media lab + Twitter release beyond completion rates: How social video works. (2016, August 18). IPG Media Lab.
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10. Q4 and fiscal year 2020 letter to shareholders. (2021, February 9). Twitter.
11. Rosen, A. (2017, November 7). Tweeting made easier. Twitter.
12. Shearer, E. (2021, January 12). 86% of Americans get news online from smartphone, computer or tablet. Pew Research Center.
13. Shearer, E., & Matsa, K. E. (2018, September 18). News use across social media platforms 2018. Pew Research Center’s Journalism Project.
14. Shearer, E., & Mitchell, A. (2021, January 12). News use across social media platforms in 2020. Pew Research Center’s Journalism Project.
15. Smith, C. S. (2018, April 16). Here’s how to use Twitter to dominate the Google search results. Search Engine Land.
16. Stadd, A. (2013, October 8). 10 top accounts to follow on Twitter for breaking news. Adweek.
17. The state of video marketing 2021. (2021). Wyzowl.
18. Ward, T. (2019, September 17). Inside the discovery mindset on Twitter — and what it means for brands. Twitter Marketing.
19. Window, M. (2018). 5 data-driven tips for scroll stopping video. Twitter for Business.

By Nestor Gilbert

Nestor Gilbert is a senior B2B and SaaS analyst and a core contributor at FinancesOnline for over 5 years. With his experience in software development and extensive knowledge of SaaS management, he writes mostly about emerging B2B technologies and their impact on the current business landscape. However, he also provides in-depth reviews on a wide range of software solutions to help businesses find suitable options for them. Through his work, he aims to help companies develop a more tech-forward approach to their operations and overcome their SaaS-related challenges.