Turkish Election Spurs Outsized User Engagement Gains on Twitter

Key Takeaways:

• Sensor Tower’s proprietary panel data shows massive leaps in Twitter user engagement in Turkey around the heavily publicized May 14 election. Daily average time spent and sessions soared 52% and 78% DoD, respectively, as users attempted to follow live election results on the platform

  • Twitter user engagement in Turkey (both time spent and sessions) reached a 3 year high during the closely followed election despite significant criticism of the platform due to imposed content restrictions in the region

  • Despite Twitter’s actions to restrict content surrounding the Turkish election, ST data indicates that user engagement spiked more significantly on Twitter than any other social media platform during the election. Facebook (+9%), Instagram (+5%), TikTok (+5%), and Snapchat (-2%) all experienced only slight gains (or decreases) in DoD user time spent in Turkey

• The Turkish election wasn’t the first time that Twitter saw outsized gains in user engagement in the country compared to other social media platforms. On Feb 6, 2023, users frantically took to social media to communicate after a catastrophic earthquake struck the country: average session counts on Twitter increased a whopping 93% DoD vs. 36% on Facebook, 27% on Instagram, and 2% each on TikTok and Snapchat

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