Twitter hails profit but growth concerns hover

Social media firm Twitter saw its shares leap after it reported its first quarterly profit despite facing a challenge enticing new long-term users.

While the site saw a 4 per cent increase in monthly active users over the last year, there was no increase in the last three months, with the numbers described as “flat”.

The platform has struggled to effectively communicate how best to use the site, but has made notable changes in the last year to try to become more accessible. These include doubling the tweet character limit to 280.

The firm reported net income of $91 million (£65m) in the quarter, compared with a loss of more than $167m in the same period a year earlier. It also announced record quarterly revenue but total monthly active users were stuck at about 330 million.

Twitter co-founder and chief executive Jack Dorsey said: “Q4 was a strong finish to the year. I’m proud of the steady progress we made in 2017.”