Twitter shares rise on political news wave

NEW YORK • Shares of Twitter Inc. j umped on Wednesday after it reported better- than- expected user growth in the first quarter, although its revenue fell for the first time.

The surprising acceleration, which Twitter attributed to new features and heightened user interest in political news, followed several quarters of stalled user growth.

Twitter reported yearly growth of six per cent in monthly active users, a key indicator calculated by taking the number of users who have logged in and logged out during the 30-day period, to 328 million. On a quarterly basis, Twitter added nine million monthly users.

Twitter closed at US$15.82 Wednesday in New York, up 7.9 per cent.

While Dorsey cited technical changes to Twitter’s timeline, which now lists content by themes instead of in a chronological order, as part of the reason behind the user growth, chief operating officer Anthony Noto said user interest in news and politics also played a role.

U. S. President Donald Trump has tweeted about five times a day on average since his inauguration in January, according to social media analytics company Zoomph.

“I think that Trump drives a lot of awareness about Twitter among people who otherwise wouldn’t be paying attention,” said Michael Pachter at Wedbush Securities. “But again, one quarter isn’t a trend, so let’s see if it’s sustainable.”