Is X immediately seeing a surge in downloads, and a possible resurgence in public recognition?
The platform has been shedding traction because the identify change from Twitter, with its official utilization knowledge displaying a major decline in lively customers in Europe (the one area that it nonetheless shares knowledge for), down 15% since Elon Musk acquired the app.
However now, below new Head of Product Nikita Bier, X is claiming that it’s seeing a surge in downloads of late, with the app claiming that it noticed essentially the most first-time downloads in its historical past final week, together with pre-X instances.
That’s additionally mirrored in third occasion knowledge, with Similarweb’s chart for X downloads displaying an enormous spike in Google Play Retailer rankings.
Sensor Tower exhibits an identical spike in App Retailer rankings, which comes after Musk threatened authorized motion in opposition to Apple for what he claimed was a deliberate effort to suppress X’s rankings in its charts.
And that’s not all. Bier has additionally reported that X is gaining traction in Europe. And with Musk additionally reporting that X is seeing round 600 million month-to-month lively customers, up from 500 million in 2023, the numbers do appear to recommend that X could also be gaining favor as soon as once more.
Or is it?
In response to Similarweb, the sudden spike in X’s rankings is extra possible because of dialogue across the homicide of right-wing media character Charlie Kirk than they might be reflective of a broader pattern.
Similarweb knowledge exhibits that X’s each day lively customers rose 5.6% during the last week within the U.S., and a couple of.2% worldwide, whereas its app retailer rankings have elevated barely, when it comes to broader averages, because the incident.
So X is getting extra consideration because of elevated dialogue in relation to this occasion, however typically phrases, there hasn’t been any sustained spikes in utilization in consequence.
As such, it’s inconceivable to say that X is regaining recognition at this stage, with the numbers solely spiking within the brief time period, and never extending by means of to app utilization.
That’s to not say that X is doing considerably worse both, although as you’ll be able to see within the above chart, the broader pattern is that X utilization is declining, based mostly on Similarweb’s estimates.
Basically, it’s too early to inform whether or not X is gaining traction because of modifications applied since Bier took over the pinnacle of product function, which is what he appears to be suggesting, with X’s official utilization numbers set to inform the story round precise utilization.
And X should report its EU utilization figures once more subsequent month, below its DSA reporting obligations, and that might give us a greater indication of how, precisely, the app is positioned when it comes to recognition and utilization.
