Twitter tanks after reporting stagnant user growth

Social media group Twitter fell almost 12% in early trading on Wall Street after reporting flat user growth in the company’s second-quarter earnings report.

The micro-blogging site said average monthly active users for the period between April and June was 328m, the same as it was in the first quarter of 2017.

In a disappointing quarter for the company, advertising revenue fell 8% in comparison with the same period last year, as it took in $489m from ad agencies in comparison with $535m in 2016.

The micro-blogging site said average monthly active users for the period between April and June was 328m

Increased competition from the likes of Facebook and Snapchat has ratcheted up the pressure on the network, with both rivals recording significant user growth in recent months.

Facebook reported a 71% rise in profits off the back of strong advertising revenues on Wednesday in its latest earnings statement.

CEO Jack Dorsey returned to Twitter in 2015 after a hiatus in order to turn around the company’s fortunes, with its share price plummeting over 50% in the last three years.

"We’re strengthening our execution, which gives us confidence that our product improvements will continue to contribute to meaningful increases in daily active usage,” Dorsey said in Thursday’s release.

Analysts at IG said following the release of the figures that it could point towards a more worrying trend in the long-term for Twitter.

Josh Mahony said: "The fact that Twitter has seen its user numbers stall at this stage of its development is certainly a worry, with the longevity of this platform coming into question once again. The deterioration in Twitter revenues highlights the fact that it simply cannot match the likes of Facebook when it comes to advertising effectiveness.