Twitter says its user numbers are growing as it hails progress in safety and quality of content

Social network beat expectations with revenue growth

Twitter said it has been making improvements in the area of online safety (REUTERS)

Twitter grew revenues and daily user numbers in the first quarter of 2018, the social media firm said on Wednesday.

The group reported revenue was up 21 per cent compared to the first three months of 2017, to $665m (£477m), with advertising revenue also rising by 21 per cent to $575m.

US revenue grew by 2 per cent to $347m, while international revenue rose 53 per cent to $318m.

Twitter said its increased revenue reflected “better than-expected growth across all major products and geographies”.

The group swung to a net profit of $61m, or 8 cents per share, in the first quarter, from a loss of $61.6m, or 9 cents per share, a year earlier

Daily active user numbers increased by 10 per cent compared to the first quarter of last year, and were up 12 per cent against the previous quarter.

Shares in the group jumped 12 per cent in pre-market trading as the company confirmed its results were ahead of Wall Street expectations.

The company, which has faced criticism over its approach to abusive and threatening messages sent via the network, said: “We made meaningful progress in our ongoing safety and information quality work in Q1, and we are continuing to invest in improving the quality of content and the overall health of the conversation on Twitter.”