Twitter Hits 255 Million Monthly Users, But Sees $132m Net Loss

Twitter has 255 million monthly users and 198 million mobile members now.

The microblogging site revealed its user numbers in its latest financial results. It said that users and revenue are on the increase, along with advertising and opportunity.

However, the growth in user numbers is seeing a slow-down. In its previous quarterly results, Twitter had 241 million monthly active users, with a growth of 14 million this quarter or just shy of 6 percent. This was below analyst expectations, leading to Twitter shares dropping by 11 percent overnight.

The first quarter results include revenue of $250 million, an increase of 119 percent, and a net loss of $132 million. Twitter claimed this made for a strong quarter.

“We had a very strong first quarter. Revenue growth accelerated on a year-over-year basis fueled by increased engagement and user growth,” said Twitter chief executive Dick Costolo.

“We also continue to rapidly increase our reach and scale. With the integration of MoPub, we now reach more than 1 billion iOS and Android users each month, making us one of the largest in-app mobile ad exchanges in the world and the only one at scale to offer native in-app advertising.”

The number of monthly users increased over the three-month period, and Twitter pointed to an increase of 25 percent compared to the previous year. Advertising revenue also increased, and grew by 125 percent year-over-year to $226 million.

Revenue also came in from data licensing and that increased to $24 million for a gain of 76 percent.

Earlier in April we learned that not much of the Twitter user base is active, and read that the social network is populated by ghost accounts.

Only 126 million users, or around 13 percent of Twitter users, had sent a tweet in the past 30 days, according to the figures.

This article was originally published on the Inquirer.