Twitter isn’t in good shape, folks. While Facebook soars past two billion active users and its WhatsApp stablemate surges past a billion, the 140-character blog is stagnating.
Actually, scratch that. After years of stunted growth, Twitter users are actually declining in the United States. Yikes.
Although the number of global users remains at the 328 million it reported in the first quarter, it masks the loss of a million users in its homeland during the last three months.
The company is also losing money… Well, even more of it compared to last year.
During the same three-month period in 2016, it haemorrhaged $107 million. This year that figure has risen to $116m.
That’s because the company pulled in $46 million less in advertising (via Engadget). Yikes.
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Twitter has attempted to frame the conversation somewhat differently, citing 12% growth in active daily usage (year-on-year).
And, while US usage is down since the last quarter, it is up 4% since this time last year.
CEO Jack Dorsey said: “We’re strengthening our execution, which gives us confidence that our product improvements will continue to contribute to meaningful increases in daily active usage. We’re also encouraged by the progress we’re making executing against our top revenue-generating priorities as we focus on making Twitter the best place to see and share what’s happening, where you can see every side and perspective.”
As for the reasons for the decline? Well perhaps the omnipresence of the 45th President of the United States and the infernal shouting match that has created is proving too much for some people. Sad!
We’ve already had to remove our smartphones from our bedrooms to avoid starting our day off with a dose of Donald. How about you?
Ditched Twitter or thinking about it? Let us know on Facebook or, er, Twitter.
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Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
