Since announcing that it would no longer share content on Twitter, National Public Radio’s web traffic has fallen.
Based on web analytics from Similarweb.com, NPR’s website has seen its page visits fall from 111.5 million in March to 104.2 million in May. The website’s ranking fell four slots in the United States to the 143rd most popular website in the US.
According to analytics, the bulk of its website’s traffic, 45 percent, comes from direct access while 42 percent of its traffic comes from web searchers. Only 6.5 percent of NPR’s traffic comes from social media.
While NPR is no longer sharing its reports on Twitter, the social media platform still accounts for 15 percent of the website traffic generated by social media.
NPR announced that it was leaving Twitter in April after the platform began labeling it as “state-affiliated media,” the same label Twitter assigns to state-run media outlets from authoritarian countries like Russia and China.
After NPR reporter Bobby Allyn sought comment on the decision from Twitter CEO Elon Musk, Musk conceded that he may have been wrong in adding the label.
Twitter then changed the NPR label to “government-funded media.” But NPR still objected, opting instead to stop sharing posts on the platform.
NPR CEO John Lansing defended the decision to stop using Twitter, explaining that the outlet was protecting its credibility as well as its ability to provide reporting without “a shadow of negativity.”
Lansing said any potential downside to the move will not change the fact that he would not put NPR’s content “anywhere that would risk our credibility.”
In a staff email explaining his decision, Lansing said that continuing to post on Twitter would be a “disservice” to the “serious work” of the journalists at NPR.
In the intervening weeks, Twitter removed all labels from NPR’s account, however, the outlet has not posted content since April 12.
