Twitter surprises with a sales gain, but user growth lags

From ComputerWorld: Twitter reported a higher than expected increase in revenue on Tuesday, suggesting progress in the company's efforts to grow its ad sales.

Total revenue for the second quarter ending June 30 was US$502 million, Twitter reported, up 61 percent from the same period last year, and beating estimates of $481 million from analysts polled by the Thomson Financial Network.

Twitter also reported decent growth in its users, although with a caveat. For the quarter, the total number of users logging in monthly was 316 million, up 15 percent. But compared to the first quarter, the vast majority of the increase was derived from SMS Fast Followers, people who access Twitter content on mobile devices but do not have accounts on the service.

Excluding SMS Fast Followers, Twitter grew its monthly active users by only two million on a quarterly basis.

Investors have been concerned by Twitter's user growth and the strength of its advertising business since it went public in 2013. Twitter still has not managed to turn a profit. The company's revenue growth has slowed over the past year, and its reported user growth has also steadily slowed since 2013.

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