• by Tobi Elkin  @tobielkin, June 26, 2017

In a bit of a tailspin, beset by sluggish user growth and struggling to boost ad revenue, the little blue bird is looking to invest in advertising technology to help turn its business around.

Last week at the Cannes Lions festival, Jack Dorsey, Twitter’s co-founder and CEO, said he plans to focus on ad-tech investments via partnerships with third parties. “Advertising is our business and technology is how we manifest that,” he said. “We’re doubling down.”

The news is viewed as a positive by Rick Kahn, CEO and co-founder, eZanga. “Many social networks, including Twitter, have a gamut of fake users and invalid profiles that bog down their networks. Fake followers, likes, and engagement can be purchased for fractions of a dollar, but amount to vanity and nothing more for brands,” Kahn told DND via email.

“Twitter has already solved the hardest part of the equation when building a successful ad-tech strategy: It has the users. Applying a mindset of how best to monetize this user base and opening the doors to third-party vendors is the most effective way to compete with the walled gardens,” Hector Pantazopoulos, co-founder and CRO, SourceKnowledge, told Digital News Daily via email.

In order to stop fake users, Kahn said Twitter will need to work with ad-tech providers that can identify real users and offer performance indicators along the way. “Brands care about this performance. They know they need to be present on social networks like Twitter, but are inherently aware that they’re not always receiving fraud-free traffic. If companies like Twitter address this correctly, and swiftly, advertisers will pay in kind for a greater end result,” he said.

Apart from ad tech, another way Twitter is trying to bolster ad revenue is by allowing brands to buy ads on its video streams for Periscope. The move, announced in late March, enables advertisers to buy pre-roll videos on Periscope streams.