Forty per cent of Twitter users will come from emerging markets by 2018, according to digital market research firm eMarketer, though it will still lag behind Facebook.
According to the research, 32.8 per cent of all Twitter users will come from the Asia Pacific region by the end of 2014, compared to the 23.7 per cent in North America.
“The number of Twitter users in Asia-Pacific has already eclipsed those in North America and Western Europe by a wide margin – even considering that our figures exclude China due to the country’s ban on the site,” eMarketer said.
The firm however highlighted Twitter’s underperformance, saying the social media platform will have 387 million users by 2018 compared to Facebook’s 1.2 billion users as of December 2013.
“In 2018, we project, Twitter will grow 10.7 per cent to reach nearly 400 million users globally,” the group said.
Nonetheless, the social network will experience a drastic decline in its growth. In 2012, the platform experienced a 50 per cent increase in users. This will fall to 24 per cent in 2014, 15 per cent in 2016, and 10 per cent in 2018.
Earlier this year, the companyreported a net loss of US$645 million during 2013 just months after itsinitial public offering (IPO).
Twitter said its fourth quarter revenue was up 116 per cent from 2012 but a loss of US$500 million over the same period was reported.
The market research firm said China, where social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter are currently banned, presented huge potential for growth.
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