Twitter earnings fail to meet expectations

Twitter failed to meet financial analyst expectations in its latest earnings announcement, as the site's number of users grew by just three million in the last three months, while revenue failed to meet predictions.

The social media site reported revenue of 602 million US dollars (£458m), below the 607 million (£462m) expected for the quarter, however this was a 20% rise on the same quarter last year.

But the slow growth of the site's user base will continue to worry the company, only rising from 310 million to 313 million monthly active users in three months.

In a letter to shareholders detailing the latest earnings, the company said: "We saw continued increases in engagement, and sequential growth in both monthly active and daily active usage. This growth was driven by marketing initiatives, organic growth and product improvements, including better relevance in both the enhanced timeline and push notifications.

"We are seeing the direct benefit of recent product changes, and with disciplined execution, we believe we can drive improved engagement and audience growth over time."

In the last six months, Twitter has been attempting to reposition itself as a home for breaking news and live video after struggling to compete with the like of Facebook and Instagram for users as a social communication platform.

'Live-streaming video' has been made one of the company's five long-term strategy and priorities, with video apps Vine and Periscope at the centre, while Twitter has also committed to improving its safety after repeated criticism over how it handles abuse.

"This is our second quarterly update after laying out our long-term strategy and priorities," Twitter said.

"We have five priorities for the year: refining our core service, live-streaming video, creators and influencers, safety, and developers. We made meaningful progress across each in Q2 and we're encouraged to see the direct benefit of recent product changes already driving increases in engagement and retention."

On safety, the site added: "We, along with the broader industry, have a lot more work to do in this area, but we're committed to continuing to develop tools that will help keep Twitter, Periscope and Vine safe and open for people to connect in real time. We do this work together with the strong communities and partners that exist across all of our products."