Twitter may have captivated millions of insiders in the twin realms of technology and media, but its most persistent challenge can be easily characterized in less than 140 characters: “Grow the user base faster and enlist more engaged, mainstream users i.e. #BeMorelikeFacebook.”
In its second earnings report as a public company, the San Francisco company showed that it’s still struggling with that fundamental test. Though it more than doubled quarterly revenue to $250 million and bested analyst estimates of $241 million, Twitter’s active user base grew only 25 percent to 255 million, down from 30 percent growth the previous quarter. It also posted another quarterly loss of $132 million, or about 23 cents a share.
