Twitter has reported a net loss of £396 million for 2013, despite its highly publicised floatation on the New York Stock Exchange at the end of last year.
Despite the loss being forecast by financial analysts, the slow growth in user numbers has been a growing concern for investors since the company became public.
Twitter averaged 241 million monthly users in the Q4 2013, a growth of only 3.8 per cent on the previous quarter, falling nearly seven per cent in the last 12 months.
Consequenltly, shares of the social network were hit hard, dropping up to 12 per cent in after-hours trading on Wednesday.
Patrick Salyer, CEO at Gigya, comments: “While Twitter’s revenue performance highlights the rather simplistic notion that social media sites are still quite popular, it also shows a fascinating shift in the public’s interest in engaging with news-led issues. Twitter is arguably the most effective network for sharing news stories and having conversations with other users and celebrities around specific topics and this is a phenomenon that is fuelling user subscriptions to the site.
“Social media is no longer just about sharing photos of your pets with a select group of friends; it’s evolving into a truly global form of communication, with users determined to ensure their voice is heard.”
Just last week rival social media site Facebook revealed impressive earnings for Q4 2013. However, recent research carried out by Gigya in Europe showed that 45 per cent of social media users share content using Twitter, only two per cent less than Facebook. This highlights the way brands communicating on social is changing.
