Should Your Brand Be on X? The Pros, Cons, and Alternatives
For real-time news, X (formerly Twitter) still holds remarkable appeal. But for brands today, deciding whether to stay active on X isn’t as simple as it once was. The platform still offers lightning-fast reach and direct access to influential audiences. But it also comes with some question marks. Since Elon Musk’s takeover, X has hit the headlines over content moderation, regulatory scrutiny, and advertiser pullbacks. At the same time, its user base remains large, with finance, tech, and media conversations still happening there first, making it hard for brands in fast-moving industries to ignore.
Our team is exploring the pros and cons of maintaining a brand presence on X in 2025. We’ll look at the platform’s strengths, compare alternatives like Threads, weigh the latest user and advertiser statistics, and make a judgement call together.
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The Pros of Being on X
Our relationship with Twitter goes back many years, and it has long been a cornerstone of our social media strategy for finance clients. From real-time market updates to timely thought leadership, we’ve leveraged the platform for many financial brands, ranging from investment firms to fintech startups. Over time, we’ve built a deep understanding of how to navigate the platform’s unique culture, algorithmic quirks, finance hashtags and trending dynamics, allowing our clients to stay visible during market-moving events and breaking news. While the platform has evolved, our fondness for it remains; it has consistently been a place where finance brands can demonstrate credibility, respond instantly to market shifts, and engage a highly informed audience.
#1 Unmatched Speed and Real-Time Reach
X’s defining strength remains its real-time information flow. News, market updates, and viral moments break on X before they appear anywhere else. Studies show that 59% of X users rely on the platform for news, making it the highest among social media networks for real-time information consumption (Pew Research). For brands in sectors like finance, tech, and media, this speed isn’t just convenient, it’s critical.
Financial analysts and traders actively use X as a “market pulse.” A 2024 eMarketer report noted that over 70% of finance professionals surveyed monitor X during market hours, and 42% said they’ve made, or adjusted trades based on insights or sentiment first spotted there. Viral hashtags tied to economic events like interest rate announcements or major IPOs, can trend globally within minutes of release, offering brands an opportunity to join conversations at the exact moment audiences are most engaged.
This immediacy also extends to crisis communication. During breaking news events, from earnings misses to geopolitical developments, brands that respond swiftly on X see up to 120% higher engagement compared to delayed posts on other platforms. In short, while other platforms like Threads or LinkedIn encourage discussion and depth, none currently rival X’s role as the frontline of the world’s newsfeed, where relevance is measured in seconds.
#2 Substantial User Base
Estimates vary, but despite drop-offs, X’s reach remains significant:
- Early 2025 estimates put monthly active users (MAUs) between 560–600 million, with daily active users (DAUs) around 250 million
- Other sources report around 600 million MAUs, with daily time-per-user at roughly 30+ minutes
- These numbers may be shifting, but X’s global footprint, especially in markets like the US, Japan, and India, remains notable.
Cons and Controversies
#1 Leadership Turmoil and Content Concerns
Recent upheavals haven’t helped. CEO Linda Yaccarino resigned recently amid controversies tied to content moderation, AI-powered mishaps (particularly with X’s chatbot Grok posting questionable content), and advertiser uncertainty. Elon’s unceremonious erasing of a much loved and trusted brand was painful to watch, especially for marketers. We often reminisce about the creation of the original Twitter bird and the skill and thought that went into it.
This was replaced by a low resolution and seemingly careless X. The entire platform from egg to nest to tweet was cleverly bird themed. Now the platform feels somehow disconnected and lacking substance for users.
#2 Moderation, Misinformation, and Regulatory Scrutiny
Since Elon Musk’s acquisition, moderation policies have loosened, leading to increased spam and a spread of misinformation. Musk disbanded the misinformation moderation team and pulled out of a European Union disinformation initiative. The platform’s algorithm is also under investigation in France for alleged bias. Whilst the removal of free APIs (next point) was allegedly to minimise spam, the promotion of spammy blue tick posts seems a far bigger problem for platform users.
#3 API Price Hikes
Another issue for big brands and marketing agencies is the whopping hike in API fees. Historically, Twitter offered free or affordable access to its APIs, fuelling tools for research, analytics, journalism, and user engagement. But beginning in early 2023, Musk abruptly removed the free API tier and introduced paid options: a “Basic” tier for hobbyists and light developers, and enterprise packages starting around $42,000 per month, with larger-scale tiers at $125,000 and $210,000 monthly.
In late 2024, X doubled the cost of the Basic tier from $100 to $200/month, slashed free access, and added new per-account fees that further inflate costs for apps. Researchers and nonprofits have been particularly impacted. For instance, tools used during disaster relief efforts and countless academic studies have been priced out entirely. For marketing agencies, this move makes it awkward or expensive to handle multiple Twitter accounts meaning other platforms are favoured in client strategies. Oh, and Elon shut down Tweetdeck. We did cry. A lot.
#4 Declining Growth
While X still boasts hundreds of millions of monthly active users, recent trends show erosion in both user base and engagement. For example:
· Global decline: Research from analytics firm Sensor Tower and others estimated that X saw a 5.3% drop in global users year-over-year in 2023–2024, reversing years of steady growth.
· US exodus: In the United States, daily active users fell by roughly 15% between October 2022 and late 2023, according to Apptopia, following Musk’s takeover. This is significant given that the U.S. remains one of X’s largest advertising markets.
· Engagement dips: Surveys found that while people still check X, the average time spent per day decreased by 7% in 2024, with some users migrating activity to Instagram Threads, Mastodon, or simply spending less time on text-based social platforms. With priority engagement now given to paid blue ticks, many “ordinary” end users felt that the platform was not worth bothering with for such low engagement.
· Advertiser unease: A 2024 Reuters Institute report highlighted that more than half of global advertisers reduced or paused spending on X, citing declining audience quality, brand safety risks, and falling engagement.
In other words, while X isn’t in freefall, these declines suggest a slow bleed of users and ad spend. Red flags for brands considering long-term investment.
Are There Comparable Alternatives?
While no platform matches X’s real-time velocity, a few contenders are emerging:
· Threads
Launched by Meta, Threads had explosive initial growth (100 million users in five days), but quickly saw declining engagement, from ~20 minutes down to under 3 minutes by early August.
· Bluesky
Platforms like Bluesky are mentioned by users as potential alternatives prioritising transparency and user experience. But they are still in growth phases and lacking X’s reach.
Stay on X, But Diversify
X remains indispensable for real-time communication, especially for fast-moving sectors like finance. Its audience still includes journalists, analysts, and engaged professionals, and bursts of visibility can yield outsized attention. Yet, given leadership uncertainty, moderation challenges, advertiser volatility, and shrinking engagement, setting all your eggs (especially advertising eggs) in one basket is risky.
- Maintain a core presence on X for speed, communication and relevance but lessen resources.
- Repurpose or adapt content for alternative platforms — especially those gaining traction in professional or tech-savvy circles.
- Invest gradually in platforms like LinkedIn and TikTok, particularly if they are aligned with your audience values.
- Monitor Engagement. If you’re not a paid blue tick, you may be noticing a big drop in engagement. Monitor this and weigh up your results V the effort you are putting into the platform.
- Build and nurture owned channels like email newsletters, blogs, communities so you own distribution.
Want to restrategise your social media presence? Book a free call with our team. We specialise in social media management and content for financial services brands.
