NDM 48

IS SOCIAL MEDIA ON THE DECLINE? TWITTER, YELP, AND LINKEDIN REPORT STAGNANT USER BASES

Article

All told, hundreds of millions of people across the world use the major social mediasites like Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. This suggests a robust user base that gives the impression that social media is still in demand, yet last week’s earnings reports, which shed some light on user engagement, from three of the big players in the industry suggest otherwise.

Last week saw Twitter and LinkedIn come out with earnings. Yelp — which isn’t traditionally regarded as a social media site, per se — was among those companies that issued reports. The common trend among all three major names was that data on their respective user numbers was disappointing. Accordingly, investors punished the companies’ stocks with strong selloffs after the earnings were released. Only Facebook, which released its earnings back in April, seemed to be doing well.