X surpasses Instagram, Facebook in driving traffic via Google

The exodus of major advertisers from X (formerly Twitter), after it was revealed that ads were shown alongside antisemitic posts and other problematic content, resulted in a number of critics claiming that the platform may actually succumb due to a revenue crunch.

Despite multiple posts suggesting otherwise by the owner and Chief Technical Officer Elon Musk, many have continued to make similar assertions, even claiming that the continued political polarisation may lead to users leaving in large numbers.

But recently, a user posted a screenshot of data that highlighted that X gets more organic traffic through Google than competitors Instagram and Facebook, which led to Musk reacting in a hilarious manner.

The original post was made by an account named 'DogeDesigner' who claims to be a UX/UI and graphics designer at DogeCoin.

The user posted a screenshot that ranked X, Instagram, and Facebook according to "traffic driven to a domain via Google top 100 organic search results". The data focused on US desktop traffic in October 2023.

The screenshot revealed that X ranked highest among the three with 640.6 million users, whereas Instagram ranked second with 548.3 million users, followed by Facebook with 491.7 million users.

Musk reacted to the post and said, "Guess we're not dead yet," followed by a laughing emoji.

It should be noted that the traffic data shared by the poster points to a very specific niche. The entire picture is very different. As per data from Similarweb comparing X and Facebook, the latter witnessed a total visit to the website of 16.7 billion, as opposed to 6.1 billion by X.

Similarly, data comparing X and Instagram highlights that Instagram is placed higher than X as well with 6.7 billion total visits.

At the same time, X's traffic has seen an uptick compared to the previous month, which would prove that it has gained more visitors recently. We will only be able to correctly assess the impact of the advertiser exodus and the polarising content next month, once Similarweb releases updated information.