There’s a murmur echoing through the tech industry that Twitter’s star might be starting to fade since Elon Musk stepped up as CEO last year. This concern has recently been amplified by a data chart shared by Cloudflare’s CEO.
A revealing graph shared by Matthew Prince, Cloudflare’s chief executive, suggests that Twitter’s ranking has experienced a downward slide since the start of 2023. Prince’s tweet, proclaiming “Twitter traffic tanking,” was accompanied by a company data chart that pointedly indicated Twitter’s ranking slump from 32nd place to 39th over the course of the year.
When asked for a comment, Twitter’s response was, unfortunately, an automated message that fell short of addressing the query.
David Belson, the head of data insight at Cloudflare, confirmed that the data presented in the graph was indeed accurate and representative of the volume of requests coming into its domain name system resolver, 1.1.1.1, which aids users in accessing websites. However, Belson emphasized that this data doesn’t directly demonstrate web or app usage.
This revelation comes at a time when the social media landscape is witnessing an intense rivalry, with Meta’s new app, Threads, joining the fray. Threads, benefiting enormously from Instagram, managed to accumulate a whopping 100 million users within days of its launch, as it allows users to sign up easily via the Instagram app and migrate their followers across.
This contest is set against the backdrop of a public tussle between Musk and Meta’s CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, with legal threats and bravado-infused tweets thrown into the mix. Adding to the drama, Twitter has threatened legal action against Meta over Threads, while Musk suggested a quite audacious “literal dick measuring contest” against Zuckerberg.
Meanwhile, Twitter has been navigating through a choppy sea of controversy under Musk’s command. Issues range from the confusion around the verification status of popular accounts and celebrities, to users experiencing periodic outages. More recently, many users encountered the now-infamous “Rate Limit Exceeded” alert while using the app, significantly curtailing the number of tweets that could be read at once.
Taken together, these developments raise the question: Is Twitter losing its appeal amidst the buffet of emerging social media alternatives? Only time will tell if the Twitter bird can regain altitude or if it’s destined for a continued descent in the bustling world of social media. As entrepreneurs and investors, it’s critical to keep our eyes on the social media landscape, understanding the shifting trends and how they could impact the broader tech industry.