The biggest decision Twitter has made this year is its plan to go public. If Twitter is to be a success as a public company, however, there are a few key concerns in its filing that need to be addressed.
Stats show that Twitter has 215 million monthly users, and 100 million of those are daily contributors. 75 percent access Twitter via their mobile phones and 65 percent of revenue is made through mobile advertisements.
Three quarters of users reside outside the U.S. This poses a problem since only 25 percent of Twitter’s ad revenue is from international ads.
Another issue is how the company keeps a check on this advertising revenue. Twitter made $253 million in the first half of this year and it would be reasonable to project a figure of $655 million for the whole year. 87 percent of this revenue comes from advertising and the rest is from licensing.
The company is spending double what it spent on marketing and research compared to last year.
Taking a page from Warren Buffett, more tech company leaders are taking it upon themselves to issue value statements or personal letters. In their letters, founders of companies like Google and Facebook have talked about their commitment to providing a service to consumers, and how this is at the heart of everything they do. Twitter’s brief is, well, brief.
The filing also points to how celebrity interest in the company could wane at any given moment. While high-profile individuals like President Barack Obama have used Twitter to publicize key moments, popularity of the medium seems to have fizzled.
Another point of concern is that large companies find growth very difficult. That’s why Facebook and Google are constantly coming up with ways for its users to keep using their services.
But perhaps the biggest concern is that Twitter hasn’t actually ever turned a profit.