11 February 2016•Update: 12 February 2016
By Barry Eitel
SAN FRANCISCO
The number of Twitter users has shrunk slightly, the company revealed Wednesday in the release of its fourth quarter earnings report for fiscal year 2015.
The microblogging platform claimed that it had 320 million monthly active users around the globe, the same number as last quarter.
But a significant portion of these users only utilize the service via SMS text message, a version called SMS Fast Followers and focused on developing markets.
When SMS users are excluded, the number of Twitter users drops from 307 million to 305 million. The troubled company, which lost four top executives last month, posted a net loss of $90 million on $710 million in revenues for the quarter.
However, Twitter claimed that January was a strong month.
“We’re confident that, with disciplined execution, this growth trend will continue over time,” it said in a statement.
The company has several revisions planned for its famous platform, including one change that appeared Wednesday that affects how users see their newsfeed.
Instead of chronological order, users will see tweets arranged by an algorithm, similar to long-term rival Facebook.
Twitter also expressed a willingness to tamper with other parts of the service that have been in place for years.
“We are going to fix the broken windows and confusing parts, like the .@name syntax and @reply rules, that we know inhibit usage and drive people away,” the company told investors. “We're going to improve the timeline to make sure you see the best tweets, while preserving the timeliness we are known for.”
Shares of Twitter dipped sharply in after-hours trading but later recovered some losses.
Twitter stock has lost more than 50 percent of its value since last July, when co-founder Jack Dorsey took over as chief executive.
On Twitter, the hashtag #RIPTwitter was trending Wednesday, showcasing a lack of optimism from many users about the service’s future.
Twitter turns 10 years old in March.
