Recently, Twitter revealed its latest revenue stats in its Q3 Earnings Call. With a new set of figures and plans to assess, what direction does the platform hope to move in this year?

At its Earnings Call last month, Twitter revealed an 8% annual rise in its revenue, which now stands at $616 million. The platform also reported an increase in the number of monthly active users, with a 3% rise to 317 million- a gain of 4 million from last quarter. These two key results are impressive, and exceeded analysts’ predictions. However, the company as a whole has still struggled to turn a profit. As a result, a number of layoffs have been made since late last year, with the company planning more for this year, as well as a number of restructures. In order to advance growth and address areas of concern, Twitter has a number of changes in the pipeline, which may help attract further users, and retain existing ones. These include safety updates, which will hope to tackle the amount of abuse on the platform. Coming next month, it aims to introduce features to combat trolling- something that has long been an ongoing problem for the platform. Further updates, such as enabling businesses to post “Quick replies” and “Welcome messages” within Direct Message, and the launch of chat bots, are all expected to help boost the site too.

To us though, one of the most appealing feature updates is an “Event Timeline”, something the company is currently working on. This would, according to Twitter’s CFO Anthony Noto, “bring the conversation together” for users tweeting around certain events. For instance, this timeline could be displayed during an important occasion such as the SuperBowl, which would concurrently be being live-streamed on the platform. Tweets displayed here would solely be centred around the event, showing the latest from viewers, as well as sporting commentators. Personalised timelines might also, (as explained by Noto), be presented in tabs adjacent to the user’s primary one, to enable switching back and forth. We like the sound of this, because it aligns with one of Twitter’s unique features- the ability to display live content directly in users’ timelines. The platform already has a “Custom Timelines” feature which lets users collect and add specific tweets around a theme or event to a tailored feed. However, it sounds as though Twitter’s new plans might give the site itself more control over the content it shows, as opposed to the user.

Twitter also announced that video content had been its top revenue generating ad format thanks to brands jumping on Promoted Videos- these have been a much more effective and engaged addition to Promoted tweets. With this in mind, might this be another reason for Twitter to consider keeping Vine? Just this week, reports have circulated that the app might live on, with one top potential buyer being Japanese mobile messaging company, Line. If Vine did continue to exist under Twitter’s ownership though, this might be an aid to the platform’s success with video content- Vines could continue to be shown in Timeline, and even be used by brands looking to house further video ad content on the site.

Are you a regular Twitter user and fan of the platform? Do you think the site’s changes will help build momentum? We’d love to hear your thoughts, so please tweet to us @PracticeDigital and share your comments on our Facebook page.