NPR: Traffic loss from leaving Twitter negligible

Viewership of NPR’s digital journalism has decreased only slightly as a result of the company’s decision to get off X, the platform formerly known as Twitter.

According to an internal audience metrics memo sent to NPR staffers in August that was obtained by The Hill, the organization has seen what its leaders said was an “expected small decline” in audience “relative to our owned and operated, such as NPR.org.”

Before the April 5 decision, Twitter referrals made up less than 2 percent of NPR.org’s audience, the company said, with a majority coming from its primary news accounts: @npr and @nprpolitics.

The audience metrics memo was first reported on by the journalism think tank Nieman Lab at Harvard University.

In the months after what the company is calling “Twexit,” NPR has seen a 1 percentage point decline in total weekly users to its website, which it attributed to the decision to get off the platform.

The public broadcaster said in April it would let its accounts go dormant and no longer publish its journalism on X, citing a decision at the time by CEO Elon Musk to label NPR as state-affiliated media.

Musk has come under a wave of criticism from tech and media watchdogs for the changes he has made to the platform’s content moderation policies and free speech practices.

“We are not putting our journalism on platforms that have demonstrated an interest in undermining our credibility and the public’s understanding of our editorial independence,” NPR said in a statement announcing the decision.

The change in NPR’s strategy also comes as news publishers across the industry work to adapt to changing news consumption habits and evolving avenues to reach audiences on different platforms.