- Is social media dying? How much has Twitter changed as it became X? Which party now dominates the conversation? Using nationally representative ANES data from 2020 & 2024, I map how the U.S. social media landscape has transformed. Here are the key take-aways 🧵 arxiv.org/abs/2510.25417
- In short, the ANES data shows: 📉 Social media use is shrinking 💥 Twitter/X posting has moved ~50 points to the right 🧩 Platforms are splintering 🔊 Fewer people are talking — but those still talking are more politically extreme
- Overall social media use is declining. Between 2020 and 2024, more Americans — especially the youngest (18–24) and oldest (65+) — report using no social media at all. A small group of heavy users remains, but the middle is thinning out.Oct 30, 2025 08:09
- Legacy platforms are losing ground: ⬇️ Facebook ⬇️ YouTube ⬇️ Twitter/X But ⬆️ TikTok and Reddit "Other" platforms - including Bluesky - has not seen significant growth as a whole. (But huge compositional changes)
- Politically, the landscape is shifting too: 🔴 Nearly all platforms have become more Republican 🔵 But they remain Democratic-leaning overall 🏃♂️ Democrats are fleeing to smaller platforms (Bluesky, Threads, Mastodon)
- Twitter/X is a story on its own: 🔴 While users have become more Republican 💥 POSTING has completely transformed: it has moved nearly ❗50 percentage points❗ from Democrat-dominated to slightly Republican-leaning.
- Posting is correlated with affective polarization: 😡 The most partisan users — those who love their party and despise the other — are more likely to post about politics 🥊 The result? A loud angry minority dominates online politics, which itself can drive polarization (see doi.org/10.1073/pnas...)
- Here's the full preprint. Feel free to write me if you want any additional analyses in the final version! arxiv.org/abs/2510.25417
