Boston, MA 03/19/2014 (wallstreetpr) – After its listing on November 7, 2013, the Twitter Inc (NYSE:TWTR) stock price has mostly soared and reached a peaked at $73.31 on December 26. It reported a loss of $511 million in its 4Q2013 results. As Twitter CEO, Dick Costolo, makes his first China trip — where it has been banned since 2009 — investors are in a bit of a quandary as to whether Twitter will be able to keep growing its user base or not. In recent months, Twitter’s user growth seems to have stalled.
However, Twitter is particularly suited for mobile devices and with smartphones out-selling desktop PCs and tablets six-to-one, there’s still scope for growth for Twitter. Apart from user growth, Twitter has to show that it can effectively monetize its hundreds of millions of users. Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) is already doing a tight-rope walk in terms of how much advertising to show in users’ timelines. Twitter too, will be grappling with similar challenges. User engagement is another issue and the conventional wisdom is that Facebook gets more user engagement than Twitter.
Twitter As Global Public Square
But that conventional wisdom may not be universally valid. Facebook users tend to interact in closed groups whereas Twitter is like a global public square. After all, Ellen DeGeneres tweeted her Oscar selfie. When a news breaks and people are curious to get the latest updates about it, Twitter is the perfect medium. Everyone is sharing and speculating about the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 on Twitter. When sports or other cultural events are in progress, people take to Twitter to post their comments with the appropriate hashtags. No wonder Facebook has borrowed ideas from Twitter including verified accounts and hashtags.
Making of a Twitter Addict
Twitter is the perfect social media for people who want to explore personalities and ideas cutting across borders. All the celebrities are present on Twitter pushing their latest movies and albums and so on. Most political leaders of the world are on Twitter sharing their platforms and ideas with their followers. All sports stars are present on Twitter as well. Writers like Salman Rushdie, science writers like Phil Plait, new Cosmos host and science communicator non pareil, Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson, are on Twitter too. It takes time for new users to understand Twitter and find people and Twitter handles that will interest them. But once Twitter users discover their favorite Twitter handles, Twitter grows almost into an addiction. The Twitter family is only expanding and that expansion is nowhere near saturated.
Twitter is still innovating by adding new features such as those looping six-second Vine videos. Expect more of these innovations. While Twitter has its share of naysayers and short sellers, Twitter is still in a growing phase and it will keep growing for sure.
