Active Users

This interaction could include any of a number of activities like these: a user might express a post's worthiness of an audience by liking it, or might substantively engage with a post by commenting on it. A user might share a post with an audience of their own, or might go further and post related content themselves. A user might show a post to someone else. A user might watch a video, or a series of videos. A user might send a message. A user might participate in an offshoot discussion. A user might more passively consume content.

Typically, intervals are measured for Active Users, such as daily intervals (DAU – Daily Active Users), weekly intervals (WAU – Weekly Active Users), or monthly intervals (MAU – Monthly Active Users). For social media platforms, and for marketers and advertisers who use those platforms, these metrics are essential. They tell the platforms and their users how many individuals are engaging with the platform on a consistent basis, which aspects of the platform are engendering the most interaction, and whether the platform is experiencing growth, stagnation, or decline.

Unlike users who are inactive or log in only occasionally, active users are a big part of a social media platform's ecosystem. They are the lifeblood of the platform. They generate data. Their conversations drive the platform's value. They are the network effects. And for ad-supported platforms, the active user is a key metric for revenue generation. In an earlier age (say 2005), when many social media platforms had only a handful of users, it was possible to run ads on these platforms without getting much revenue.

The categorization of 'active' may differ based on the platform's distinct criteria or algorithms, but it universally indicates a person who interacts with the app or site in a substantial way. For the classification to hold, the interaction must be of sufficient signification that the nomenclature 'active' carries with it a straightforward implication of user involvement and platform vitality.