Is X Still Relevant for Brands?

Elon Musk’s acquisition of Twitter in 2022 and its rebranding to X in 2023 ushered in sweeping changes that radically transformed how the social media platform functioned. Along the way, these modifications changed how users engage with it and how the public perceives X.

As X (formerly Twitter) transitions from a microblogging service to Musk’s “everything app,” many social media and brand managers, digital marketers, startup founders, and small business owners are left wondering, “Is Twitter still relevant in 2025?”

Given how much flak X has received recently, it’s a fair question. Epic Owl is here to shed light on how X has evolved, the marketing opportunities and threats in the current landscape, and alternative platforms you can consider. By the end, you’ll have greater clarity on where X stands and what part it should play in your social media strategy.

The Current Landscape of X for Brands

In the years that followed Twitter’s 2006 launch, the app quickly gained popularity as it allowed users to share bite-sized thoughts and hashtags. The potential to go viral and spark public conversations with short, clever content, along with its verification system, had businesses following suit.

It became known as a platform where companies could elicit real-time engagement, offer customer support, and reinforce their campaigns and branding. Additionally, hashtag-inspired marketing combined with visual polls was a unique addition that effectively encouraged interaction.

Musk’s $44 billion acquisition introduced huge changes that some might argue weren’t for the better.

User Engagement Trends

Due to contradictory reports from different sources, including Elon Musk, it’s been difficult to definitively determine user trends on X. 

An EMARKETER analyst predicted X would lose seven million monthly average users (MAU) after the takeover. But the actual MAU decline turned out to be more dramatic. Fortune reported in late 2024 that the number of daily users plummeted from 250 million to 157 million (a 37% drop) despite optimistic projections from Musk that it would reach 1 billion that year. In May 2024, however, Elon Musk shared that X had 600 million monthly average users.

Engagement

Engagement, a metric of great value to advertisers, has notably declined in recent years. Sensor Tower, a company focused on digital audience insights, shared that the platform’s engagement dropped 8% from 2022 to 2023. The same organization revealed a churn rate of over 30% as more users left in search of alternative platforms.

A more recent report stated that engagement declined 3.47% as of January 2024 and 2.15% in January 2025.

Ad Revenue

Ad revenue has likewise been bleak. From 2022 to 2023, advertising revenue was 46.6% lower, going from $4.5 billion to $2.2 billion. 

The platform lags in this respect, as other apps noted ad revenue growth during the same period. Instagram’s ad revenue grew 24.9%, Snapchat’s was up 13.8%, and Pinterest earned 18.1% more from advertisers.

Brand Safety and Advertiser Exodus

Concerns around brand safety and content moderation have led advertisers to rethink their marketing strategies on the platform. Kantar’s 2024 survey of 1,000 marketing professionals revealed that only 4% believe their brands are safe on X. It also highlighted that 26% of marketers around the world intend to buy fewer ads on X in 2025.

Why has advertiser confidence gone down?

More Relaxed Content Moderation. Musk’s position as a “free speech absolutist” has led to the reinstatement of Twitter accounts that had been banned for disinformation and hate speech. Under new management, controversial figures like Donald Trump, Kathy Griffin, and Jordan Peterson had their accounts restored. The majority of Twitter’s trust and safety team was also fired, significantly reducing the app’s ability to moderate harmful and abusive content.

Verification Changes: Paid Verification Instead of Actual Verification. While Twitter’s verification system relied on outreach and relationship-building, getting that credibility-boosting blue check mark beside your profile can now be bought. This means that anyone with sufficient funds can have a “verified account.” As a result, the platform has become known for hate speech, extremist views, racism, conspiracy theories, and misinformation—qualities that brands are afraid to be associated with.

Public Perception of Elon Musk. The Tesla founder himself is a controversial figure who has been accused of racism, sexism, anti-Semitism, and more. Stakeholders have naturally wondered if his management of X might reflect his polarizing views.

As trust issues emerged and spread, the ensuing brand exodus prompted several notable companies to stop advertising on X, including Fox Sports, Ubisoft, The Guardian, National Public Radio (NPR), Best Buy, Target, TechCrunch, Hyundai, and more.

Tech company IBM also told CNN it was suspending its advertising on X after one of its ads appeared beside pro-Nazi content. 

Key Benefits of X for Brand Marketing

Despite heavy criticism and the general skepticism surrounding X, it’s worth asking if X has anything left to offer marketers. Indeed, the platform has undergone many radical changes, but continues to offer social media managers, brand managers, and business owners certain advantages:

Real-Time Engagement on Viral Trends 

Is participating in real-time conversation important for your brand’s success? If it is, you might not want to drop X from your marketing plan just yet. X is a great platform for real-time engagement, allowing you to have your say on trending topics while cultivating brand awareness and community-building. 

If you’re on X for brand awareness, leveraging trending hashtags and viral conversations should be part of your strategy. Remember that you can grow your reach by participating in the right conversations at the right time.

Customer Service

Having direct and real-time access to niche communities also reinforces customer service by letting you answer questions and address comments directly. Since most customers value immediate responses, you can resolve customer inquiries and concerns through X in a relatively short period while positioning your company as a responsive brand that cares about its clients.

According to SproutSocial, X boasts an expected response time of three hours or less. Meanwhile, 85% of small- to medium-sized businesses use X as an extension of their customer service.

Crisis Management and Public Relations

In high-stakes situations where controlling the narrative is crucial, X’s real-time communication can be invaluable. The social network’s international reach, direct and immediate communication style, and content-sharing features let you respond to breaking news, public backlash, and misinformation quickly and easily. Whether you’re releasing an official statement or acknowledging a mistake, a single post can be rapidly shared with journalists, influencers, regulators, and the public. 

It can also act as a listening tool if you monitor sentiments, misinformation, and emerging issues. Your PR team can keep track of mentions, hashtags, and trends to gauge public perception and make appropriate changes to their public relations strategy.

Bottom line? X’s functionality encourages responsiveness, an important factor for good PR and crisis management.

Influencer Partnerships and User-Generated Content

Looking to leverage the power of influencer marketing? X is still the platform of choice for countless influencers out there, helping access niche audiences. Together with your followers, influencers can create valuable user-generated content (UGC) that fosters authenticity, boosts credibility, drives engagement, and encourages conversions. 

UGC is an important part of any social media marketing toolkit because it is more persuasive than traditional marketing. 

Analytics and Insights

X still offers built-in analytics that let you gauge your brand’s performance. Going to your profile’s Analytics tab shows profile visits, follower growth, and post impressions.  If you have paid ads, you can monitor conversion and click-through rates (CTR). You can then use analytics insights to tweak and optimize your online presence, helping you maximize advertising ROI.

Challenges and Risks on X

As a marketer, you need to be fully aware of the challenges and risks when advertising on a social media platform. Here are the main issues on X to keep in mind:

Verification Changes and Authenticity Problems

One of the most controversial changes introduced by Musk’s leadership is X’s shift to paid verification. The once-coveted checkmark, which used to be granted based on authenticity, profile activity, and notability, now has a starting price of $200 per month for businesses.

What are the implications?

• It’s harder to identify credible sources.
• Authentic accounts that used to be verified on Twitter could lose their verified status if they are unable to pay.
• Fraudulent accounts could easily impersonate brands and people.
• X users become more vulnerable to fake news and scams.

A key selling point of social media is authenticity—the perception that marketing messages are balanced by real customer insights and experiences. When authenticity is placed behind a paywall, verified accounts and the conversations happening on X lose significant value.

Content Moderation and Brand Safety Concerns

In 2023, X announced it was enforcing “freedom of speech, not freedom of reach.” What it means in a nutshell is that the platform would no longer remove content that violates its policies. It would merely limit its visibility.

Though the platform’s official stance opposes the glorification of violence and violent entities, NBC News reported that it’s become “a thriving hub for Nazi support and propaganda.” The news outlet elaborated that 150 premium accounts and thousands of unpaid profiles posted or shared pro-Nazi content in 2024. 

This was supported by research from the Institute of Strategic Dialogue (ISD). According to ISD, anti-Semitic posts more than doubled under Musk’s ownership.

As these troubling reports came in, brands that did not want to be associated with hate speech and violence left the social network in an event that some have referred to as “the great X-odus.”

Shaky Performance and ROI

Since Musk’s takeover, advertising revenue fell 46.4% from $4.5 billion in 2022 to $2.2 billion in 2023. However, a 2025 forecast by EMARKETER predicts that ad revenues will grow for the first time under the SpaceX founder’s leadership. This year, the market research firm expects X’s ad revenues to rise 16.5% as Musk’s influence over the Trump administration increases. 

Despite the slight recovery, the platform’s ad revenue remains lower than it was prior to Musk’s acquisition.

Emerging Alternatives To X

Advertisers go where their markets are. Here are a few apps that witnessed a spike in users after Twitter became X:

Threads by Meta

Often described as a “Twitter clone,” Threads is owned by Meta, offering easy integration with Facebook, WhatsApp, and Instagram. It also gives brands an opportunity to grow their organic reach. Meanwhile, users can interact with text updates, videos, and photos. The app has over 320 million active users and has higher engagement than X (6.25% vs. 3.6%).

BlueSky

Nostalgic for the way Twitter used to be?  Many users have found familiarity in BlueSky’s Twitter-like interface. Created by former Twitter head Jack Dorsey in 2021, BlueSky has grown rapidly from 13 million users in October 2024 to 33 million in March 2025. 

It only opened to the public in February 2024, so expect a few kinks that have yet to be ironed out. For example, there is no verification system in place, and it can be hard to find users.

Platform Comparison: X vs. Threads vs. Bluesky

	X (formerly Twitter)	Threads	BlueSky
Year Established	2006, rebranded in 2023	2023	2021 (public beta in 2023)
Monthly Active Users  in 2025	650 million	320 million	33 million
Ownership	Privately owned by Elon Musk	Meta	Decentralized, supported by Jack Dorsey
Content Moderation	Significantly reduced	Actively moderated, governed by Meta policies	Community-driven
Brand Safety	Controversial content	Safer environment	Safer, but enforcement is still maturing
Discoverability	Favors paid accounts and viral content	Algorithm-driven	Relies on chronological feeds and hashtags
Verification System	Paid	Paid and unpaid options	Still evolving, currently invite-only

Aside from Threads and BlueSky, a few Twitter alternatives like LinkedIn, TikTok, and Mastodon have emerged:

* LinkedIn. For brands that rely on B2B marketing, this professional networking site offers credibility, focused discussions, and deep connections that grow over time. Brands can gather quality leads, connect with decision-makers, highlight their expertise, and cultivate partnerships.

*TikTok. TikTok has a massive user base of over 1.9 billion people. It hinges on creative and fun user-generated content, particularly videos, from millennials and Gen Z markets. You can connect with audiences on a more personal level while expanding organic reach.

*Mastodon. Decentralized and open-sourced, Mastodon is run by volunteers and small organizations, so it’s free from ads and corporate influence. The email-like app had 10 million users as of January 2025. Its niche groups work well for community building without sacrificing authenticity or transparency.

Depending on your objectives, some Twitter alternatives may be better than others. It’s worth noting that Threads has become one of the most popular options and has sometimes been referred to as the “Twitter killer.”

Decision Framework: Should Your Brand Stay or Go?

Ultimately, the decision to stay or go depends on your objectives, the audience you’re trying to reach, and which risks you think are worth taking. 

Summary of Pros and Cons

After a lengthy discussion, we summarized the advantages and disadvantages below to make your choice easier.

Benefits of Staying With Twitter:

Drawbacks of Staying With Twitter:

Decision Guidelines 

Business managers, marketers, and founders must consider whether the benefits of staying on Twitter outweigh the risks. Here are key considerations:

• Brand Safety. Can your brand tolerate potential reputational damage?
• Real-Time Engagement. How much do you rely on real-time engagement?
• Audience Alignment. X is filled with communities interested in politics, media, crypto, and tech. If your audience is on X, it may be worth staying.
• Return on Investment. Are you still getting measurable results through visibility, traffic, or conversions on X?
• Brand Alignment. Does a fast, informal, and debate-driven environment match your brand identity?

It may be worth exploring other options if:

• Your brand supports diversity, equity, and inclusion.
• Your marketing efforts have stopped producing measurable results and ROI.
• Your audience has moved on to other platforms.
• Your brand voice is polished or directed toward younger demographics. (Most Twitter users are men, 18 to 34 years old.)

Contingency Planning

Aside from shutting down your X account entirely, another option is to scale back your presence on X as you wait and see how things develop.

If you decide to stay on X, here are a few steps you can take to minimize your risk:

• Post less frequently.
• Disable ads or limit targeting.
• Use X primarily to listen to your audience.
• Regularly reassess your presence on the social network.
• Consider diversifying to other platforms.

Conclusion and Strategic Recommendations for 2025

Is Twitter still relevant in 2025? Advertising on X has become a reputational risk. When consumers see ads on the social media platform alongside controversial content, they may think that instability and intolerance are acceptable for your brand. That’s a line many companies won’t cross.

On the other side of the coin, X still provides real-time engagement, niche audiences, and thought leadership. Certain brands could whether the volatility, particularly if they:

• Are involved in finance, technology, politics, and news
• Have resilient crisis communication protocols
• Have an established presence on X

Other brands, including those engaged in family-friendly, lifestyle, wellness, and fashion industries, may want to consider alternatives like Threads and TikTok. While Twitter might have been a business “must-have” before, X’s diminishing user trust, brand safety concerns, and unpredictable algorithms have made it a far less reliable platform for consistent engagement and growth.