Digital Week in Review: LinkedIn Q4 Earnings, Poor User Growth for Twitter, Kid’s Social Media Use Infographic

In this week’s Digital Week in Review: LinkedIn reports Q4 earnings, Twitter has poor user growth this past year, and an infographic on the social media and usage trends of kids aged 12-17.

LinkedIn Releases Q4 Earnings

Revenue for LinkedIn’s Q4 2013 earnings have been reported at $447.2 million, which is an increase of 47% from LinkedIn’s Q4 2012 earnings which were only $303.6 million. The company posted their net earnings at $48.2 million, compared to $40.2 million in 2012’s fourth quarter. However,  the stock dropped 8% in after hours trading and at one point was down as much as 11%.

The projected revenue for 2014 as a whole is expected to be between $2.02 billion and $2.05 billion.

LinkedIn’s user base is also growing, with an additional 70 million members signing up in 2013, and 70% percent of those members came from outside of the United States. CEO Jeff Weiner has also expressed interested in tapping into China’s market which will accelerate user growth even more.

LinkedIn has also announced that it will be acquiring the San Francisco data insights start-up, Bright, for 120 million (approx. $32.4 million in cash and the rest in stock). Bright specializes in connecting job prospects and employers. Bright’s technology will help LinkedIn show more relevant career ads to its members.

Poor User Growth for Twitter

In the past three months there has only been 1 million new Americans who have signed up for Twitter which has been detrimental to investor confidence. Twitter’s U.S. users represent only 22% of the total user base, the smallest its ever been.

The social network has has a history of stagnant growth which is posing issues for advertising. On Wednesday during its first earnings call since going public, the company announced that internationally there was still only 8 million new users worldwide who had signed up for Twitter accounts over the course of 2013.

However, even though growth may be drastically slowing for Twitter, the 54 million users it has still provides a larger customer base for advertisers than many other channels. Twitter also still offers ad opportunities that are better than most alternatives.

“I can’t speak to how much patience investors will have, but I think over the next 12 months, we’re going to see much more maturity of the Twitter ad platform. In that same time frame, 12 to 24 months, Twitter will become a must-buy for advertisers on the same level as Google or Facebook.” – Aaron Goldman, Chief marketing officer of Twitter ad partner Kenshoo Social.

How Young People Use Social Media

There are a reported 81% of kids aged 12-17 who use social media; and nearly half of girls between the ages of 6 and 12 have their own phone.  A new infographic has been released by FashionPlatyes, showing how kids choose to spend their time online. The most popular network is YouTube, in second place is Facebook, and following that is Instagram. Interestingly enough, only 2% of this demographic surveyed reported to using Twitter.

To see the whole infographic click here.