Two months ago, Twitter pledged “to fix the broken windows and confusing parts” of its service after losing 2 million active users (excluding SMS-only users). Today, we get to find out if the company’s reversed that decline.
Twitter more or less promised it would, eventually. The company said in February that it’s “already seen January monthly actives bounce back to Q3 levels. We’re confident that, with disciplined execution, this growth trend will continue over time.”
The implication is pretty clear: Twitter needs to at least return to the monthly active users it had two quarters ago — 307 million, sans SMS — or else investors will probably throw a fit.
So how will Twitter make it happen? In February, Twitter outlined a few ways to turn things around, including fixing “the .@name syntax and @reply rules, that we know inhibit usage and drive people away.” Twitter didn’t provide a timeline for a fix, but it’s noteworthy that the company hasn’t addressed it since — maybe we’ll hear more today?
Twitter offered a few more reasons why investors shouldn’t worry, basically: Periscope, timeline tweaks, and Moments. So far, the company has tweaked timelines without causing a memorable revolt, toyed with Moments, and pitched Periscope’s first year as a success.
Twitter doesn’t have to blow anyone’s socks off today, but its user base has to, in some way, indicate that growth is on the way.