LinkedIn is the Twitter/X rival that no one talks about

Since Elon Musk acquired Twitter in the fall of 2022, the market for Twitter alternatives has been saturated with potential competitors ranging from small startups to open source apps to well-funded efforts like Threads from Instagram. But there’s an overlooked alternative to Twitter/X that’s growing right under our collective noses: LinkedIn. In March, LinkedIn’s web traffic was up 10.6% year-over-year, compared to a 15.2% decline for X, according to traffic analytics data from digital intelligence platform Similarweb.

Compared to November 2022 – or just after Musk took over Twitter – X’s web traffic was down 10%, while LinkedIn’s was up 18%.

In March, Twitter/X recorded 727.6 million unique (deduplicated) visitors worldwide, a decrease of 7.5% year-over-year. LinkedIn had a much lower total – 269.2 million – but that figure was up 11.1% year over year, Similarweb said.

Additionally, the company found that global usage of LinkedIn’s Android apps increased 14% since November 2022 in March, while X fell 20%.

Another app data source, Appfigures, however, doesn’t see the same trend on mobile devices. Its data indicates that LinkedIn’s monthly downloads were up 10% year over year, while X’s were down 24% – but Appfigures attributes the decline to Twitter’s rebranding to X, not to other consumer behavior. LinkedIn’s average downloads remained stable before and after Musk’s Twitter takeover, the company said.

Still, given that people work on their desktops and laptops during the day, it makes sense that some professionals may have shifted some of their web usage from X to LinkedIn following Twitter’s transition.

Today, with the arrival of features such as games (launched today) and short videos on LinkedIn, it is clear that the owner of the social network, Microsoft, hopes to capture the attention and interest of users who used to network via Twitter – and particularly the younger Gen Z crowd.

The strategy seems to be working. As Appfigures also points out, LinkedIn’s mobile app earns more than X and Snapchat combined on iOS and Android.

This isn’t an apples-to-apples comparison, as LinkedIn subscriptions are more expensive, starting at $29.99/month and going up to $69.99/month on retail stores. applications. X’s monthly subscriptions range from $4 to $22, although users can also choose to pay for more expensive annual subscriptions. Snapchat Plus, on the other hand, costs just $3.99 per month or $29.99 per year.

Image credits: Application figures

In other words, LinkedIn doesn’t need to sell as many subscriptions to increase revenue – and it’s never had trouble competing with X or Snapchat on mobile before.

However, Appfigures notes that LinkedIn’s mobile app revenue grew rapidly, from $20 million in the first quarter of 2021 to $91 million in the first quarter of 2023. It has now reached its biggest quarter on record, with $119 million. dollars in app revenue in the first quarter of 2024.

For comparison, X and Snapchat generated $23 million and $67 million, respectively, in the first quarter, a total of $90 million combined, less than LinkedIn.

LinkedIn declined to comment on third-party data.

Updated, 1:10 p.m. and with LinkedIn response.