Has Twitter India given up on India?

Deciphering the exodus in the microblogging site

In its tenth year, Twitter faces an acute identity crisis as rivals Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat race ahead and find more cultural relevance with the users

Twitter wanted an India product story (ZipDial) which it could use in other growth/emerging markets like Brazil and Indonesia

Several users, especially those between 18 and 25 years of age, migrated to newer, more engagement-driven platforms like Snapchat and Instagram

The rethink: The company’s focus in India is towards increasing engagement through video and achieving profitability

It was a routine earnings call on October 27 at the Twitter India office in Gurugram. Jack Dorsey, the chief executive officer of the company had just informed his shareholders that Twitter had grown its user base to 317 million, adding 4 million users, or 3% over the previous quarter. Dorsey also announced a restructuring, or as Twitter called it, a “headcount reduction of 9% of global workforce”.

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Venkat Ananth

Venkat is currently in his tenth year in journalism. Prior to The Ken, he was Deputy Content Editor at Mint as part of the newspaper’s digital team. He also wrote in-depth features on the business of sport for the newspaper. His earlier assignments include Yahoo! (as a columnist) and the Hindustan Times, where he began his career. Born in Mumbai, Venkat holds a Bachelor of Mass Media (Journalism) degree from SIES College of Arts, Science and Commerce, Mumbai and a Master of Arts degree in International Studies from Goldsmiths, University of London. He currently resides in New Delhi, where he moved nearly five years ago.

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