In
addition to surveying users about their experiences on Twitter,
researchers from the Center also examined the actual on-site behaviors
of a subset of users from this representative panel of U.S. adults who
provided their Twitter handles for research purposes. This analysis
involved two separate data collections and analyses.
First,
researchers collected every public tweet posted by these users between
May 1, 2020, and May 31, 2021. In total, this collection resulted in a
total of 959,254 tweets (of any kind) from 942 users. Researchers then
used a custom-trained machine learning classifier to estimate which of
those nearly 1 million tweets were related to political content, such as
officials and activists, social issues, or news and current events.
Second,
researchers collected profile information for all of the accounts
followed by our panel and then manually categorized a sample of all the
accounts followed by these users (2,859 accounts in total) as well as
every account followed by 20 or more users (1,256 in total) into
different account types.
One-third of posts from U.S. adults are estimated to be about politics
This
analysis finds that a sizable share of the content posted by U.S. adult
Twitter users is broadly political in nature. Of the nearly 1 million
tweets examined in this analysis, 33% are estimated to include some form
of political content. It also finds that political posting is fairly
widespread across the Twitter population, as 65% of U.S. adults on
Twitter posted or retweeted at least once about politics over the year
under observation.
At the same time, political posting is an
infrequent practice for most users. The typical (median) U.S. adult
Twitter user posted just three posts containing political content over
the course of the year – or approximately one political tweet every four
months.
This seeming contradiction – that a majority of
American Twitter users have tweeted about politics, and political
content makes up one-third of all tweets from this group, but most users
only tweet about politics occasionally – is explained by the fact that
most Americans on Twitter tweet rarely, if ever, about any topic.
Conversely, a relatively small share of users tweet quite frequently. And as is the case of tweeting behavior more broadly,
a minority of U.S. adult Twitter users produce the vast majority of
political tweets. The Center’s analysis finds that a quarter of U.S.
adults on Twitter produce 99% of all political tweets from this group.
Certain groups make an outsize contribution to the political discussion on Twitter
In
the same way that a relatively small share of users produce a majority
of political tweets from U.S. adults, certain demographic groups produce
a larger share of political content on Twitter than others. Groups such
as college graduates, Democrats and Democratic leaners, those ages 50
and older, and women each produce 70% or more of all tweets from U.S.
adults mentioning politics or political issues.
In several
cases, these groups that produce a majority of political tweets make up a
large share of the U.S. adult Twitter population. For instance, the
population of U.S. adults on Twitter contains a larger share of
Democrats than Republicans. As a result, Democrats produce a larger
share of political tweets than Republicans – even though political
content makes up a comparable share of the tweets posted by a typical
Democrat and a typical Republican.
In other cases, these groups
simply produce a large number of tweets about any topic, whether those
tweets are political or not. For instance, previous research from the Center has found that two-thirds of the most active tweeters among U.S. adults are women.
But
neither of these is the case for those ages 50 and older, who
contribute 78% of all political tweets from U.S. adults. These older
users make up around one-quarter of all U.S. adult Twitter users, and
produce roughly half (55%) of all tweets. But at the level of the
average user, older adults are much more likely to tweet about politics
than their younger counterparts. Political content makes up 36% of all
tweets from the typical (median) U.S. adult Twitter user age 50 and
older. That is roughly five times the share for the median 18- to
49-year-old, whose tweets are composed of just 7% political content.
Characteristics of the most active political tweeters
The
most active political tweeters – defined in this analysis as those who
posted more than 10 political tweets during the yearlong study period2
– are largely similar to other Twitter users in many of their basic
demographic characteristics, such as educational attainment or party
affiliation. However, there are prominent differences related to age:
highly active political tweeters contain a larger share of users ages 50
and older (34%) compared with those who tweet less about politics
(23%).
These
highly active political tweeters are more likely than other U.S. adults
on Twitter to participate in a variety of political and civic
activities at higher rates, both on Twitter and offline. Compared with
those who
tweet less about politics, a larger share say they
have contributed financially to a political campaign or cause (46% vs.
21%) or have volunteered for a campaign or cause (20% vs. 8%).
Additionally, larger shares say they primarily use Twitter to express
their opinions, discuss politics with others at least weekly, or get
news on Twitter.
At the same time, higher- and lower-volume
political tweeters do not differ when it comes to some views about
Twitter as a vehicle for political engagement. Similar shares of each
group say Twitter is mostly a good thing for American democracy, or that
the platform is at least somewhat effective at raising public awareness
of political and social issues. And those who tweet about politics the
most are actually less likely to think that Twitter is at least somewhat
effective at changing people’s minds about political or social issues:
34% say this, compared with half (50%) of those who tweet less about
politics.
Politicians and government figures are rare among all
accounts followed by U.S. adults on Twitter, but much more common among
the most-followed accounts
Twitter users follow a vast array of
accounts: The 899 users in this sample collectively followed 502,475
accounts at the time of analysis.3
Very few of these accounts belong to people or entities directly
related to politics or news media. Just 1% of these accounts belong to
politicians, government figures or public offices, an identical share
belong to policy or advocacy organizations, and another 3% belong to
media outlets or journalists. Of the four categories researchers coded
for this analysis, the largest share of accounts (26%) belong to the
entertainment category.
But the bulk of these accounts (69%)
belong to none of the categories coded by the Center. These accounts
encompass a wide range of personal and professional affiliations and
often defy easy categorization. But they generally are followed by a
relatively small number of other accounts, and few are verified by
Twitter.
However, political figures make up a much larger share
of the accounts followed by large numbers of U.S. adult Twitter users.
Among accounts followed by at least 20 Twitter users in our sample, 20%
are governmental or political in nature accounts and another 25% are
media outlets or journalists. These popular accounts also contain a
larger share of policy or advocacy groups (6%) than the broader sample
of accounts. As is true of accounts as a whole, entertainment is the
most common category – accounting 36% of this group. But just 13% of
accounts in this group do not fall into one of these four categories.
Rubén Weinsteiner
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