Why Your Twitter Engagement Feels Off (And What to Do About It)

Sometimes Twitter feels unpredictable. You post something good, but the numbers don’t move. You gain followers, yet the engagement barely shifts. I’ve noticed a lot of people talking about the same thing lately - the gap between how big an audience looks and how little it interacts. And honestly, it makes sense. Over the years accounts collect bots, inactive profiles, old-niche followers, or people who simply don’t use the platform anymore.

When that mix gets too big, the algorithm doesn’t have much real signal to work with. That’s where most of the “why is my reach so low?” confusion actually comes from.

1. The strange gap between follower count and actual reach

You’ve likely seen it: your follower number climbs, but your likes, replies or retweets don’t follow. On paper your audience grows, but in practice the reach stays flat. One reason is follower quality - ghost accounts, bots and inactive profiles are still counted as “followers,” but they rarely engage. When a good portion of your audience never interacts, the platform’s algorithm interprets that your content is weak or irrelevant.

2. Engagement benchmarks show the challenge

Across platforms, engagement numbers are dropping — and on Twitter (X) the problem is especially visible. According to Hootsuite’s 2025 benchmark report, “good” engagement rates on X often sit around 1%-2%. When so many followers never engage, even a typical post can struggle to stand out. One study also found video posts perform much better on X than static ones, showing that content format matters too.

3. Follower list issues: bots, silence and old niches

If you’ve been on Twitter for a while, your follower list might include accounts that followed you when you had a different topic, accounts that now sit dormant, or even bots. All of these pull down the “active audience” indicator. In fact, one analysis estimated that roughly 45-50% of followers for high-profile accounts could be fake or inactive. When that happens, you publish content and it’s sent to people who simply don’t respond. Over time this reduces how often your tweets are shown.

If you want to dig into how you can clean up followers easily, check this guide: https://automatio.ai/blog/remove-twitter-followers/

4. What you can try right now

• Review your recent posts and see if engagement correlates with follower count or seems independent.
• Consider trimming your “silent audience” by identifying followers that haven’t interacted, have zero posts, or look inactive.
• Switch up your content format: try more video, or encourage replies and conversation.
• Shift your growth goal: aim for active followers rather than just more followers. Focus on meaningful connections.

Conclusion

Twitter is still one of the best places to build a real audience, but only if the people who follow you are actually present. Cleaning up your follower base, adjusting your content style, and shifting your focus toward active engagement instead of follower count can make a noticeable difference. Everyone’s account behaves a little differently, so it’s worth experimenting and tracking what changes for you.

If you’ve ever looked at your numbers and thought, “This just doesn’t add up,” you’re not imagining things - many of us are seeing the same pattern. The good news is that a healthier, more responsive audience is absolutely possible with a bit of intentional cleanup and content testing.