Twitter reported better-than-expected results, but the social network saw an alarming loss of two million monthly active users in the US. The global user base was unchanged, sitting at 328 million, the same as the previous quarter. But after getting an election bump last quarter that many analysts tied to President Trump, the social network […]
Twitter reported better-than-expected results, but the social network saw an alarming loss of two million monthly active users in the US.
The global user base was unchanged, sitting at 328 million, the same as the previous quarter.
But after getting an election bump last quarter that many analysts tied to President Trump, the social network is actually losing American users, according to its monthly active user numbers.
Twitter reported that it had an average of 68 million monthly active users in the United States this past quarter, down from 70 million in the previous quarter.
In a letter to shareholders, the network said that user growth for the quarter was offset by what they termed, cryptically, as “lower seasonal benefits and other factors” without elaborating.
In an attempt to offset the generally bad monthly user news, CEO Jack Dorsey and CFO Anthony Noto focused on the growth of daily active users, which they claimed has risen 12% year-over-year but lagged by 14% from last quarter. In the US, using that metric, Noto said that Twitter grew by 9% in the US and that the company continues to see stable growth — despite the fact that there was not a specific daily user breakdown shared on the call.
Twitter is continuing to bet on video and live as part of its growth — building partnerships with various media partners and sports leagues and entertainment companies to broadcast news, live games and music events.
It was reported that over 1,200 hours of live premium video in 625 events was consumed by 55m unique viewers over the quarter.
Additionally, according to Dorsey at the Cannes Lions, the company is planning to “double down” on adtech investment and is taking a “buy versus build” approach to shore up its advertising product.
On the safety front, Twitter reported 25% fewer abuse reports and a 10-fold increase in the number of abusive accounts they take action on each day compared to the same time last year adding that “we now limit account functionality or place suspensions on thousands more abusive accounts each day.”
