Twitter lost 4 million users in Q4, blames iOS 8

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BY Unknown 03:09 0

Twitter lost 4 million users in Q4, blames iOS 8

While reporting its Q4 earnings, Twitter revealed that it added 4 million new monthly active users (MAUs) in the quarter, bringing the total number to 288 million, which was clearly short of the 292 million figure expected by analysts. But Twitter is not to blame for that, or so say its executives, who are claiming that the company lost 4 million users due to Apple’s roll-out of iOS 8.

The company says that it lost 3 million of those users after Apple rolled out iOS8, effectively changing the way the Shared Links feature in the Safari web browser works.

For those who are not in the know, the Shared Links feature was added to the mobile web browser in iOS 7, allowing you to see links shared by people you follow. While earlier the feature allowed Safari to automatically request information from Twitter’s servers, that changed with iOS 8 wherein the information is fetched only when you actually open up Shared Links.

As for the remaining 1 million users Twitter lost, they couldn’t get their passwords to work because of an encryption problem related to the microblogging service’s integration with iOS, CEO Dick Costollo said.

Google Search will soon include tweets

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BY Unknown 03:53 0

Google Search will soon include tweets

According to a report in Bloomberg, Google Search will soon include tweets. Google and Twitter have apparently reached and agreement, which will include the social network’s posts in its search results.

The feature is allegedly set to launch in the first half of this year. Tweets will appear in Google Search as soon as they are posted. Google will automatically receive content generated by Twitter’s 280+ million users.

Engineers from both companies are said to be hard at work on the new feature. Google and Twitter had a similar agreement running between 2009 and 2011.

Reportedly, there is no advertising revenue involved in the deal between Google and Twitter. The social network will receive data-licensing revenue from its partner instead.

Google and Twitter are yet to announce the deal. The social network is going to report its earnings tomorrow, so more details are likely to arrive.