How Profitable Is Twitter Compared To Other Networks? [Infographic]

While Twitter is struggling to add new users in 2013, it is said that going public could once again revitalize the growth and match the numbers accumulated back in 2012. It’s a risky endeavor, but one that could come to have a huge impact on the brand’s continued success. Even though Twitter has gone from virtually zero revenue back in 2009-2010 to around $500 million in 2013, the network is still struggling to become profitable like some of the other networks.

If we were to compare Twitter’s profitability with the other major social networking services, no matter what way we do it, we clearly see how Twitter is struggling to make their service profitable enough to keep growing. Investors are pouring millions and millions into the company, and even though they now have a plan (and of course a growing revenue), Twitter is still unable to make even the slightest impressive profit. This is made apparent when we consult a fresh infographic called “How Profitable Is Twitter?” presented by International Business Times.

If we look at companies like Google and Facebook, we see a different development. For example, Google has revenue per employee that accumulates to $1,120,553 and Facebook is slightly behind at $960,370. Those are impressive numbers that would make any stock skyrocket if that was all it was about. When we look at Twitter, it’s a whole different story. Even though Twitter is sporting over 200 million users, they only manage to bring in $158,500 in revenue per employee.

If we go deeper into the statistics and take a look at how profitable the different social networking services are, we see that while Google is making a $239,788 profit per employee and Facebook is making a shy $6,039 profit per employee, Twitter is actually losing about $40,000 per employee. It’s not exactly an ideal position to be in when thinking about going public. However, just like Facebook, going public could restart and boost the network to new heights because they allow people to invest in the once addictive social networking service.

It’s kind of exciting to see that Twitter is so dedicated to making the service better by injecting new capital into the company with the help of an IPO, but I can’t help but feel there are more pressing issues with Twitter that should be looked at before going public in order for the IPO to be as successful as possible. Facebook is constantly adding new features and making things more optimized, but unfortunately I can’t say Twitter has been as “innovative” yet. I am sure if Twitter could just step it up a few notches and make sure people see Twitter as an evolving social networking platform, its growth would be significantly improved.