The attack on Twitter, finalized with the purchase offer for about 44 billion dollars, and which now seems to falter as Musk dice that the agreement with Twitter cannot be concluded until the number of fake accounts and the accuracy of the documents sent by the social network to the SEC is established, it began with a tweet in which he claimed that most of the American celebrities on the microblogging platform tweeted rarely, and less and less.
Hypothesis confirmed by an article in the Washington Post, which based on data from Social Blade, a social media analysis site, shows that the 10 most followed Twitter accounts, not counting Musk himself, sent about 35% fewer tweets in the first four months of 2022 compared to the same period four years earlier.
If from our previous analysis it emerged that almost no one is inclined to the acquisition of Twitter by Musk, which however has earned more than 9.4 million followers in the last month, of which 5.1 million between 25 and 28 April, after the announcement of the purchase of 100% of the micro blogging platform, we wanted to verify whether this dynamic is also effective in Italy. For this purpose we have analyzed the trend of the last 3,200 tweets of the top influencers on Twitter in our country.
- Valentino Rossi. With 5.5 million followers the most loved biker in Italy on Twitter. Our analysis shows a marked decline in tweets. In particular, as regards the first four months of 2022 compared to the first quarter of 2021, there is a 30% drop in the number of Tweets that go from 103 in 2021 to 72 in 2022.
- Pedro Rodriguez. The Lazio striker has a Twitter profile followed by 4.8 million followers. The number of tweets is exactly the same, 17 both in the first four months of 2021 and in those of 2022, but the decline is significant compared to the past.
- John Square. Cuadrado uses this social network essentially to share his thoughts on the games just played with 3.9 million followers. In his case, the number of tweets is up by about 26% [24 nel 2022 Vs 19 nel 2021]but as for the Lazio player, the general trend is of a smaller number of tweets than in the past.
- Lorenzo Jovanotti. With 3.7 million followers Lorenzo shares tweets of some of his best songs and is used to retweet content made by other singers or artists in the entertainment world. There is a boom in tweets for the well-known singer who in the first four months of this year tweeted about 7 times as much compared to the same period in 2021 [432 vs 61] with his tweet of last February 6 which is the most retweeted from February 2018 onwards.
- Gianluigi Buffon. The former Juventus goalkeeper on Twitter has 3.5 million followers. They are less than half [9 Vs 20] Buffon’s tweets in the first quarter of this year. And, as the infographic shows, the decline is even more marked than in the past.
- Laura Pausini. The most popular Italian singer abroad shares the special moments that characterize her professional and family life with her 3.4 million followers. There are 224 tweets in the first quarter of 2022 compared to 252 in 2021. Down by about 11%, and definitely down compared to the past.
- Matteo Renzi. The only politician in the ranking is the leader of Italia Viva who shares his views and the proposals of his party. His 3.3 million followers have been down over the past year. The number of tweets has also decreased, from 436 in the first four months of 2021 to 180 in the same period of this year. A drop of 58%.
- Aaron Ramsey. The former Juventus midfielder on Twitter has 3.2 million followers. The player’s tweets have more than doubled from 10 in 2021 to 23 this year. But as for other profiles analyzed, the decrease compared to the past is clear, and the tweet of him most retweeted since he opened his own account to the present day is from February 2019 in which formalizes his move to Juve.
- Andrea Pirlo. With his 2.9 million followers, he mostly shares news of his sporting activity and, occasionally, also shows photos of his own family. The number of tweets collapsed, with zero tweets in January and February of this year, and only two tweets in the first four months of 2022 compared to 17 in 2021.
- Fedez. The Italian rapper on Twitter is very present with his 2.8 million followers, especially when it comes to expressing their opinions and reflections on current social and political issues. Tweets in the first four months of 2022 are reduced to a tenth compared to the first quarter of 2021 [10 Vs 105]. A decidedly reduced presence even compared to that on Instagram. And, once again, as for many of the profiles analyzed, the frequency of publication is at a minimum compared to the past.
In short, with a few exceptions, the trend towards a sporadic presence on Twitter by celebrities and influencers seems to be confirmed also in Italy. Most likely, as in the case of Fedez, they tend to focus more on Instagram, and increasingly also on TikTok, where the fees for their posts are much higher.
On this, Musk, or whoever he is, has a lot to work on. Paraphrasing, it’s the creator economy, baby!
