Twitter says that Trump is good for its business
President Trump's heavy use of Twitter is good for business, executives from the social network said on Thursday.
"The president's use of Twitter has broadened the awareness of how the platform can be used," Twitter CFO Anthony Noto said during the company's fourth-quarter earnings call with investors. "It shows the power of Twitter."
Meanwhile, Noto also noted that "it's very hard for a single person to drive sustained growth," a nod to the fact that Twitter's monthly user base only grew by a mere 2 million during the fourth quarter. The company missed Wall Street's growth expectations, and its stock was driven down nearly 10% when the market opened on Thursday.
Twitter has received sharp criticism for the pulpit it gives Trump. The company has been forced to say that it would ban the president if he violated its rules on hate speech and abuse. Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey publicly came out against Trump's recent immigration ban, and Twitter employees collectively donated $1.6 million to the ACLU.
The company's top brass may disagree with Trump's policies, but watchers of Twitter have expected Trump's use of the platform to drive engagement at a time when overall growth has slowed.
"The incessant news flow from the Trump administration playing out on Twitter and the ensuing global reaction pushes Twitter users to be increasingly engaged with the platform," BTIG analyst Richard Greenfield said in a note to clients on Wednesday.
While Trump hasn't saved Twitter's business, his constant stream of tweets highlights what Dorsey called Twitter's "superpower" on Thursday.
"The superpower we really provide the world is we can break news and get information faster to people than any other service in the world," he said.