Twitter's share price fell again after it announced there was no growth in the number of people using its service during the past quarter.
ADVERTISEMENTTwitter’s share price nosedived on Wednesday after it announced there was no growth in the number of people using its service during the final three months of 2015.
The stalled growth in the average number of active monthly users came despite various changes introduced to make Twitter easier to use and its website more engaging.
It raises concerns about how long it will take for the micro-blogging site to reverse the trend.
Trying to boost profit – which remains below expectations -Twitter is altering the way it displays tweets on its home page customising them to individual users. That gives more prominence to those that advertisers pay for, but has been widely criticised by users leading to #RIPTwitter trending.
I understand you need to monetize, but turning @twitter into @facebook so you can flog more ads alienates me & many others. #RIPTwitter
— YasmineVanWilt (@YasmineVanWilt) February 8, 2016
Twitter has warned investors not to expect immediate results from the changes. “Our work will take time” before the company can create long-term shareholder value, said Executive Chairman Omid Kordestani on a call with analysts.
Twitter shares fell sharply in after-hours trading as its revenue forecast for the current quarter missed analysts’ expectations, but the stock recovered much of that loss when Wall Street opened on Thursday.
The company’s share price has declined more than 50 percent since Jack Dorsey, one of the founders, returned to Twitter in July.
#RIPTwitter$TWTRpic.twitter.com/lHR3tOI7ZG
— Cuffy (@CuffyMeh) February 9, 2016
An exodus of some top executives last month has added to concerns about its ability to reignite growth.
There was some good news in the numbers. Twitter’s revenue in Q4 was up 48.3 percent year-on-year at $710.5 million (627 million euros) which showed that it is making more money from existing users.
