Twitter shares soar on boosted revenue despite slump in active users as social media giant combats suspicious accounts
Shares in Twitter soared today as the social media giant reported boosted revenues despite a slump in active users in the third quarter.
Revenue for the period beat Wall Street expectations at $758m (£587.58m) – an increase of 29 per cent year-on-year – with advertising revenue totalling $650m, sending shares soaring by more than 15 per cent.
However, average daily user growth slowed to an increase of nine per cent in contrast to 14 per cent growth between July and September last year as the San Francisco headquartered firm continued to crack down on suspicious accounts.
Average monthly active users fell by 9m to 326m from 335m in the previous quarter, impacted by new GDPR regulations, “decisions made to prioritise the health of the platform”, a product change to reduce automated usage and a notification technical issue, the company said.
The drop in users comes as Twitter, along with other social media companies, is under pressure to address the use of the platform as a method of spreading so-called fake news.
Twitter chief executive Jack Dorsey commented: "We're achieving meaningful progress in our efforts to make Twitter a healthier and valuable everyday service.
"We're doing a better job detecting and removing spammy and suspicious accounts at sign-up. We're also continuing to introduce improvements that make it easier for people to follow events, topics and interests on Twitter, like adding support for U.S. TV shows in our new event infrastructure.
"This quarter's strong results prove we can prioritise the long-term health of Twitter while growing the number of people who participate in public conversation."
Paul Button, chief executive of digital agency Mediablaze, commented: "Twitter’s focus has recently pivoted as the platform cracks down on preventing the spread of misinformation.
"Last quarter, we saw this take a huge toll– with Twitter’s shares plunging 20% after it dropped a million fake or offensive users.
"But with this quarters results, it’s clear they perhaps this move is paying off, making Twitter a lot more attractive among advertisers and users alike."
Rakuten Marketing Europe managing director Anthony Capano added: "While Twitter focused its efforts earlier this year on cleaning the platform of fraudulent actors, it’s clear that the focus has returned to investing in global opportunities for advertisers.
"Earlier in the third quarter the platform revealed a host of content partnerships including Bloomberg, Sony Music and NBCUniversal that would bring hundreds of hours of livestreams and other videos to the platform in the Asia-Pacific region."