By Sheila Dang

(Reuters) – Twitter Inc (NYSE:) On Thursday, the company reported lower-than-expected quarter advertising revenues and user growth. The forecast revenue was also below Wall Street targets. This indicates that there is no turnaround plan for this social network site.

Twitter stated that it had made progress toward reaching its goals of 315 million users, $7.5 billion annual revenue, by 2023. It also said that user growth in the United States should be faster than in other countries this year.

Twitter pursues big projects, such as newsletters and audio chat rooms to overcome long-standing stagnation. However, the quarterly results raise questions regarding Twitter’s strategy as analysts were expecting faster progress.

The number of daily monetizable users or those who saw ads increased by 13% to 217,000,000 in the fourth quarter ending Dec. 31, despite missing consensus estimates that it was 218.5million, according to IBES data compiled from Refinitiv. It was a significant increase from the previous quarter’s 211million users.

Advertising revenues increased 22% over the previous year to $1.41billion. This was below analyst estimates of $1.43billion.

According to the company, first-quarter revenue is expected at $1.17-$1.27 billion. This range falls below Wall Street’s $1.26 billion average.

Ned Segal the Chief Financial Officer stated in an interview that the user growth had been in line with Twitter’s guidance for the quarter. Twitter is working to improve user activity by encouraging people to follow the topics they’re interested in at sign-up.

He said that advertisement demand wasn’t as high in the final weeks of the fourth-quarter than at the start and end of the holiday seasons.

These quarterly results mark the first time Chief Executive Parag Angrawal has been at the helm since November. After Jack Dorsey, cofounder, resigned as CEO, his appointment signaled a greater focus on engineering and incorporation of cryptocurrencies and other blockchain technologies.

A new 4 billion share purchase program was announced by the company on Thursday. This is in addition to $2 billion of buybacks that it approved in 2020. Segal stated that the new buybacks are a sign of confidence in Segal’s execution and strategy.

Clicks were included in total ad engagements. They fell by 12%. This was partly due to the shift towards video ads and other formats, which generally get less engagement but are also more profitable for Twitter. It cost $39.9 per ad.

According to the company, privacy changes made by Apple Inc (NASDAQ) had minimal impact. Apple started requiring iOS apps to obtain permission from iOS customers to record their actions on websites and apps owned by others.

Segal stated that the Apple changes may have an impact on Twitter’s future growth as it expands its performance advertising business. This refers to ads designed to increase sales and other consumer activities. According to Segal, Twitter will work to minimize any negative effects from Apple’s future changes.

He said, “We are pleased with our progress but there is still much to be done.”

Meta Platforms Inc (NASDAQ): Facebook owner blamed last week’s Apple changes on advertisers’ ability to target and measure ads and claimed it could have a $10 Billion impact on Meta’s annual advertising business.

Twitter reports that total revenue for the fourth quarter, which includes income from data licenses, increased 22% to $1.57billion in line with analysts’ estimates.

The full-year revenue for 2022 is forecast to increase in the mid-to-mid-20% region. According to the company, 2022 will see an increase in total costs and expenses of around 20% compared with last year.