---
title: "A small group of prolific users account for a majority of political tweets sent by U.S. adults"
description: "These users make up just 6% of all U.S. adults with public accounts, but they account for 73% of tweets from adults that mention politics.  "
date: "2019-10-23"
authors:
  - name: "Adam Hughes"
    job_title: "Former Associate Director of Research"
    link: "https://www.pewresearch.org/staff/adam-hughes/"
url: "https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2019/10/23/a-small-group-of-prolific-users-account-for-a-majority-of-political-tweets-sent-by-u-s-adults/"
categories:
  - "Data Science"
  - "Online Activism"
  - "Platforms & Services"
  - "Politics & Media"
  - "Politics Online"
  - "Social Media"
---

# A small group of prolific users account for a majority of political tweets sent by U.S. adults

For years now, Twitter has been an important platform for disseminating news and sharing opinions about U.S. politics, and [22% of U.S. adults](https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2019/04/10/share-of-u-s-adults-using-social-media-including-facebook-is-mostly-unchanged-since-2018/) say they use the platform. But the Twitter [conversation about national politics](https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2019/10/23/national-politics-on-twitter-small-share-of-u-s-adults-produce-majority-of-tweets/#national-politics-tweets) among U.S. adult users is driven by a small number of prolific political tweeters. These users make up just 6% of all U.S. adults with public accounts on the site, but they account for 73% of tweets from American adults that mention national politics.

![The most prolific political tweeters make up a small share of all U.S. adults on Twitter with public accounts](https://www.pewresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/FT_19.10.23_PoliticsTwitter_Most-prolific-political-tweeters-make-up-small-share-US-adults-Twitter-public-accounts.png)

Most U.S. adults on Twitter largely avoid the topic: The median user never tweeted about national politics, while 69% only tweeted about it once or not at all. Across all tweets from U.S. adults, just 13% focused on national politics, according to a new [Pew Research Center analysis](https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2019/10/23/national-politics-on-twitter-small-share-of-u-s-adults-produce-majority-of-tweets/) based on public tweets that were posted between June 2018 and June 2019.

The Center defined political tweeters – 31% of all U.S. adult users with public accounts – as those who had tweeted at least five times, and at least twice about national politics, over the study period. But within this broader group, there is a subset of highly prolific political tweeters who created 10 or more tweets between June 10, 2018, and June 9, 2019, with at least 25% of them mentioning national politics.

Prolific political tweeters have several distinct characteristics when compared with other U.S. adults on the platform:

****

![Prolific political tweeters report more civic engagement and appear more politically polarized](https://www.pewresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/FT_19.10.23_PoliticsTwitter_Prolific-political-tweeters-report-more-civic-engagement-appear-more-politically-polarized.png)

Prolific political tweeters are especially likely to engage in civic activities. In the year prior to the survey (a time period that includes the 2018 midterm election), 34% of this group reported attending a political rally or event, while 57% said they contacted an elected official and 38% said they contributed money to a political campaign. Other types of Twitter users – including those who tweet about national politics but do so relatively infrequently – are much less likely engage in these activities.

**They also pay closer attention to the news:** 92% say they follow the news most of the time, whether or not something important is happening. Among those who tweet about politics less frequently, 58% say the same; the share is 53% for nonpolitical tweeters.

**These tweeters are more polarized in terms of their ideological self-identification** than those who tweet about the topic less often. Some 55% of prolific political tweeters identify as very liberal or very conservative, based on an [11-point measure](https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2018/09/13/republicans-democrats-see-opposing-party-as-more-ideological-than-their-own/) of ideology where scores of 0 (most conservative) to 2 are defined as very conservative, and scores on the other end of the scale (8-10) are defined as very liberal. Among nonpolitical tweeters, 28% choose these more polarized options.

**They also are more likely than other U.S. adult tweeters to give very cold ratings to members of the opposite party:** 64% of prolific political tweeters rate those in the other party very coldly, compared with about half of less prolific political tweeters.

*Note: See** *[*full topline results*](https://www.pewresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/FT_19.07.15_TrumpFollowers_topline.pdf)* **for this post and** *[*methodology*](https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2019/04/24/sizing-up-twitter-users-methodology/)* **for the complete survey.*