Look, I don’t know the way correct a measure of utilization “whole person seconds” is, although many builders have dismissed this as a deceptive stat, and never as indicative nor helpful as a extra widespread determine, like energetic customers.

Regardless, X proprietor Elon Musk firmly believes that that is probably the most correct indicator of engagement, and at present, he’s shared the most recent replace on X’s energetic person seconds, which he claims exhibits vital will increase within the app’s reputation.

Okay, let’s simply break this down and dig into what these numbers really imply, inside the context of utilization stats that individuals are extra conversant in.

First off, when it comes to whole person seconds, X’s common over the past week is 360.7 billion seconds per day. That’s the entire time that customers spent within the app, which, on the face of it, is an unimaginable period of time.

However breaking that down, 360.7 billion person seconds equates to six.01b whole minutes per day. X claims to have 253 million every day customers eventually examine, so for those who divide the full minutes by whole customers, that’s a mean of 23.8 minutes per day spent, per person, within the app daily.

Which isn’t near what X reported again in October, when it mentioned that customers have been spending a mean of 32 minutes per day within the app, and decrease than what the previous Twitter workforce was reportedly seeing, at half-hour per day per person. So whereas the topline numbers look spectacular, at many billions of seconds, the precise time spent per person is seemingly declining, not rising, as Musk claims.

Although if common person seconds are rising, then conversely, the full variety of customers have to be in decline. X could also be proper in reporting that customers are spending 32 minutes per day within the app, however for that to be true, that may imply that X is now solely serving 185 million customers per day, a drop of 68 million customers.

So both X is seeing much less utilization per person than it claims, or it’s serving fewer customers general.

Or it’s simply utilizing energetic person seconds as a selective measurement, and over the previous week, the numbers have elevated. However general, they’re not rising over time.

It’s additionally fascinating to notice the cut up between net and cellular customers in these stats, with primarily based on this, exhibits 88.55% of X customers are logging in by way of cellular gadget, with most, presumably, accessing the platform by way of the app.

Which signifies that this stat, which Musk has additionally shared a number of instances:

Can also be largely irrelevant, as a result of the measurement above is predicated on net visitors solely (desktop and cellular), and doesn’t embrace app utilization. So X posts, that are listed by Google, get extra Search traction than Instagram content material, which is simply accessible to Google’s crawlers in restricted capability.

Primarily, this chart is evaluating some 11% of X’s whole visitors in opposition to a tiny fraction of Instagram’s general utilization numbers, as a result of like X, most of IG’s utilization is carried out within the app, not from customers logging in on the net. So the broader suggestion that X is thrashing Instagram in utilization is totally flawed.

With this in thoughts, it’s exhausting to differentiate whether or not Musk is being intentionally misleading, or he genuinely doesn’t perceive the numbers earlier than him. Each of those charts will not be nice indicators for X, with the second displaying that, one way or the other, IG was as soon as beating it in net visitors, and stays comparatively shut, regardless of, as famous, IG posts not being absolutely listed by Google.

In essence, the highest chart exhibits that X is both dropping energetic customers, or protecting them round for much less time. Which can also be true of one other stat that X has shared, that it’s seeing 1.5 million new account sign-ups daily. If that’s true, then they aren’t sticking round, as a result of the general utilization numbers will not be rising in-step.

With out licensed oversight, it’s tough to place a lot belief in these figures both manner, as a result of those that X is sharing don’t replicate what Elon and Co. appear to counsel.

Ultimately, the worth of the platform from a advertising and marketing perspective comes all the way down to your viewers, and the place they’re energetic. In the event that they’re nonetheless participating on X, then it ought to in all probability stay a consideration, however for those who have been on the lookout for most attain, these numbers don’t showcase X’s increasing capability, as Elon is saying.