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- Google searches for "Twitter sign up" have fallen 81% since peaking last November.
- Searches for deleting accounts have now returned to pre-Musk levels.
- But those relating to joining Twitter appear to be less common than before the acquisition.
Interest in joining Twitter has plunged in the six months since Elon Musk's takeover, according to Google Trends data compiled by the web-hosting company Fasthosts.
Google Trends' index for searches of "Twitter sign up" has plummeted 81% from a November peak, just weeks after the world's second-richest person took control of the social-media company.
Fasthosts' report adds that searches for how to delete accounts have now returned to pre-Musk levels, but those relating to joining Twitter appear to be less common than before the acquisition.
That could be because so many people have now joined Twitter — as Musk has said usage is at an all-time high, and tweeted an internal report saying it had crossed 250 million daily users for the first time.
Although Fasthosts suggests it would be "idealistic" to say this is the only reason for the declining interest. "Searches being as low as they are will not be the scenario those in charge were hoping for, a sign of potentially sluggish future growth," it said.
The search index for "Twitter verification" has also fallen a drastic 96% in the same period, as Musk introduced the controversial Twitter Blue subscription. It allows anybody to get the blue checkmark for $8 a month, while businesses are being asked to hand over $1,000 a month for a gold checkmark.
Last week, Musk told the BBC that Twitter's finances are now "roughly breakeven" after it was looking at a $3 billion negative cash flow for the year – partly due to being saddled with debt from his takeover deal.
That fiscal improvement came after Musk laid off 80% of staff, landlords sued the company for alleged non-payment of rent, bathrooms were left without toilet paper, and furniture was auctioned off.
The reduced workforce has made the platform harder to keep online, with one outage happening because an employee accidentally deleted data and there was nobody left on the team responsible.
Insider contacted Twitter for comment. The company responded with an automated message that didn't address the inquiry.