Twitter triples profits, global user base rises

Twitter said Tuesday its profits tripled in the past quarter even as it ramped up efforts to root out abuse and misconduct on its short messaging platform.

Profits in the first quarter hit $191 million, compared with $61 million a year earlier, while revenues increased 18 percent to $787 million.

Twitter’s global user base appeared to show modest growth even as the company transitions to a different way of measuring it.

The longstanding metric of monthly active users was 330 million in the January-March period, an increase of nine million from the past quarter but down slightly from a year ago.

But Twitter no longer will use that measure, switching instead to “monetizable” daily active users — 134 million in the past quarter, up from 120 million last year.

Chief executive Jack Dorsey said Twitter is benefiting from its moves to root out abusive and inauthentic content that had hurt Twitter’s reputation.

“We are taking a more proactive approach to reduce abuse and its effects on Twitter,” said Dorsey.

“We are reducing the burden on victims and, where possible, taking action before abuse is reported.”

He added that Twitter aims to become “more conversational” and has launched a prototype for a new app called “Twitter,” with the goal of “making conversation on Twitter feel faster, more fluid and more fun.”