Twitter revenues drop for first time

Twitter has recorded a drop in revenue for the first time in its history as advertisers pull back from the social network.

However, the 11 per cent reduction in advertising last year, leading to an eight per cent fall in revenues in the first quarter of 2017 to $548m (£427m), was better than analysts had expected.

Combined with a significant increase in users, the news cheered investors and Twitter's shares rose by close to eight per cent overnight.

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Nevertheless, the latest figures cannot mask serious problems at the social media platform, says The Guardian.

Since it launched 11 years ago, Twitter has never turned a profit and in recent years "has struggled to maintain the scale of user growth it once enjoyed", even with a "boost" from Donald Trump following his election.

Its six per cent year-on-year increase in users pales in comparison to the numbers joining rivals such as Snapchat and Instagram, while it averages 328 million average monthly active users and Facebook sees more than 1.5 billion.

Jack Dorsey, Twitter co-founder and chief executive, said he believed continuing to grow the site's audience would "result in positive revenue growth over the long term", despite the "revenue headwinds".

Last year, Twitter cut its global workforce by nine per cent, almost 350 people, and was rejected by a series of potential buyers, including Google and Salesforce.com.