This year’s presidential election might be the perfect microcosm of Twitter’s woes. While some of the most memorable moments of the campaign for the White House have played out on the platform, Twitter has been unable to turn the attention and activity into ad dollars or user growth.
Well suited to quick updates on a noisy and unpredictable campaign, Twitter has been the dominant social media platform in 2016 for candidates, pundits and journalists. Republican nominee Donald Trump’s frequent tweeting of tirades against Democratic rival Hillary Clinton, fellow Republicans and the media have been a mainstay of the campaign, setting off furious online debate.
But Twitter Chief Financial Officer Anthony Noto acknowledged when the company reported its quarterly earnings Thursday that the election has had “no noticeable impact” on Twitter’s user growth, which analysts say is essential for boosting revenue. Campaigns and political organizations told Reuters that Twitter is simply not a great medium for political advertising.
It is not as effective as rival Facebook at targeting crucial independent voters, and high-profile Twitter users like Trump and Clinton can use it as a megaphone without buying any advertising. “We haven’t really used Twitter, largely because our core mission is to reach those undecided voters,” said Alixandria Lapp, executive director of the House Majority PAC, which supports Democratic U.S. House of Representatives candidates.
A flood of hate speech and misinformation, which Twitter has done little to tamp down, can also be a barrier to ad buys, campaign digital strategists said. Facebook has emerged as the social media ad platform of