Dive Brief:

• Twitter Inc. reported Q1 revenue Tuesday that failed to meet expectations. The results were first reported by Selerity, a financial news organization, and later confirmed in a statement by Twitter. 
• The company's revenue increased 74% to $436 million, falling short of the average prediction of $456.2 million, as analysts polled by Bloomberg estimated. Twitter also reported its number of monthly active members surged 18%—less than the previous quarter's increase of 20%. 
• Before the news broke, Twitter's shares had risen 31% over the past three months. After Selerity revealed the information through a Tweet, shares fell 5.8% before being halted. When trading reopened, the company's shares dipped to $41.40, down 20%, according to MarketWatch.

Dive Insight:

Twitter has been steadfast in its effort to be a force in the advertising world by pushing new products and growing its audience. The social media site recently unveiled a new home page for non-logged in users in an attempt to drive new user growth. It also recently added the long-awaited "retweet with comment" feature, took a page from Facebook's book by implementing autoplay video, and ventured into the hot live-streaming market with Periscope. 

The disappointing Q1 numbers reinforce concerns that Twitter may be unable to keep up with rival Facebook in the advertising world.