Spring is (almost) in the air, but Twitter is not feeling the love from some worrying critics. Twitter left 2015 in a rocky state. With its stagnant user rate of 320 million and decline in employees and profitability, investors worry Twitter has hit it’s peak.
Discluding followers who use the text-only version of Twitter, user base shrunk from 307 million to 305 million. People opting to use the text-only version of Twitter are not exposed to ads. Therefore, going off the numbers above, Twitter actually did not stay completely stagnant. Twitter user rate actually declined.
That is not to say Twitter is not trying to keep its ad-based component alive and profiting. After all, Twitter did add the autoplay option where videos play as users scroll, which is beneficial for companies as videos are difficult to ignore. Twitter now also shows highlighted moments from when you were away, including sponsored tweets from favorite brands. However, this does not answer how Twitter is to grow its user base and attract new followers.
What Twitter needs to do in order to attract new users is to define what it actually is. People want to know why they should download Twitter. At this moment, Twitter has not reached out to this potential audience to answer. Too many potential users do not use Twitter simply because they do not understand the purpose of the application.
COO, Adam Bain, highlights in an interview with CNBC the focus on “live” and how “live is a really powerful part of the (Twitter) platform.” Honing in on the aspect of “live” conversation creates a huge marketing component for Twitter and Twitter’s other products Vine and Pariscope.
Twitter is a real-time, interactive tool with capabilities of spreading information across the globe quicker than ever before. With Twitter, you are able to customize your timeline and even create separate timelines depending on the content wish to see. Twitter also has the power to take you to that political debate, take you to that protest, take you to that concert you couldn’t afford, and take you to that game winning moment all in a matter of clicks.
While Twitter is an excellent tool to help spread your message, it could use a little help expressing its own. As Twitter evolves, so must its brand messaging to help prospects understand what the brand embodies. How do you think Twitter can help users better understand?
(PS GIF Fans: Twitter is releasing the option to search GIFs to post on your timeline, because we know that is what you’ve all been waiting for #UserEngagement #MajorKey)
This guest blog post was written by PROwl account executive Olivia Noble.
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