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<\/a><\/p>\nTwitter has long argued that Trump\u2019s presence on the platform didn\u2019t meaningfully impact user growth, but it did raise Twitter\u2019s public profile during his four years in office.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are a platform that is obviously much larger than any one topic or any one account,\u201d Dorsey told analysts on Tuesday. He added that the majority of Twitter\u2019s users are outside the US, and that the service has more than 50 accounts with over 25 million followers. He also pointed out that daily active users will likely grow more than 20% in the first quarter, which is when Trump was banned.<\/p>\n
In the recent period, Twitter added 1 million new users in the US, and now has 37 million average daily users in its most profitable market.<\/p>\n
Shares rose about 2% in extended trading after closing at $59.87. The stock has gained about 62% in the past year, reaching its highest level since 2014.<\/p>\n
User growth, which has come in above 20% for the past five quarters, will slip to a percentage in the \u201clow double digits\u201d starting in the second quarter, Twitter said in a statement. \u201cLooking beyond Q1, the significant pandemic-related surge we saw last year continues to create challenging comps,\u201d the company wrote in its letter to shareholders.<\/p>\n
Twitter projected first-quarter revenue of $940 million to $1.04 billion. Analysts estimated Twitter\u2019s first quarter revenue would be $983.4 million.<\/p>\n
The San Francisco-based company said it expects a \u201cmodest\u201d impact to its advertising business from Apple Inc\u2019s upcoming changes to the iOS 14 mobile operating system, which could make it harder for companies to track and then re-target users with ads.<\/p>\n
Rival Facebook has said the changes could pose a serious threat to its business, but Twitter is less dependent on targeted ads, and relies more on brand advertising, which typically includes more general messaging and targeting.<\/p>\n
The company highlighted revenue from ads that promote mobile app installs, called MAP ads, which Twitter worked to improve in the past year. MAP ads generated more than $300 million in revenue in 2020, which was unchanged from a year earlier, though Twitter said sales from MAP ads improved by more than 50% in the fourth quarter.<\/p>\n
Twitter has been exploring subscription services to add revenue streams other than advertising. Multiple internal teams are researching subscription products, though Twitter executives have said that such initiatives are still a long way off.<\/p>\n
The company didn\u2019t mention subscriptions in its shareholder letter on Tuesday, and Chief Financial Officer Ned Segal said there was \u201cnothing new to report\u201d when asked about subscriptions on the call.<\/p>\n
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