As the latest social media company to come under pressure, Twitter is making headlines this morning for disappointing new numbers when it comes to users and revenue.
Actually, the user numbers look close – Sheila Dang at Reuters reports that while Twitter had expected user growth to 218.5 million, instead they saw user volume at 217 million, which represents a 13% increase.
As for revenue, that came in at $1.57 billion, against $1.58 billion expected. The company’s goal is $7.5 billion annually by the end of next year.
Dang also notes that Twitter is poised to institute a four-billion-dollar buyback program.
As for the stock, TWTR rests around $38 per share at press time.
However, it’s important to note that Twitter’s stock price has cut itself in half within a year – a lot of pain for those who bought in at highs.
Though some have cited troubles related to Apple privacy issues, Twitter spokespersons have contended that Apple’s impact has been modest.
“Although retooling our revenue products in light of Apple’s privacy-related iOS changes took additional time, energy, and resources in 2020 and 2021, we believe that our product improvements have helped reduce the impact on Twitter,” the company wrote recently.
Some analysts are calling for slightly higher numbers in the 40s, but Twitter has a lot of growing to do, and getting back to that mark might be difficult given see changes in social media moods and appetites.
If Facebook is any indication, Twitter could also be in trouble.
Just days ago, we reported on Facebook losing a million users for the first time ever.
The question is how closely these two social media giants correlate.
In any case, Jack Dorsey has already jumped ship and landed at Block, formerly Square, a firm innovating digital payment methods.
Watch Twitter’s stock price as all of this shakes out.
