While Facebook stumbles, Twitter’s making a comeback

For the past several years, Twitter’s been a punching bag, both for tech writers and Wall Street analysts. It remained unprofitable, was a magnet for trolls, and, worst of all, its user growth came to a halt.

But in just the past few months we’ve seen some meaningful signs of life at the embattled social network. For one, it had its first profitable quarter in, well, forever. But it also saw growth in other areas. For one, though monthly active user growth is flat, it saw a sharp increase in daily active users. Also, a report from Social Flow found that Twitter traffic to news sites has increased while Facebook referral traffic has fallen.

Is this the sign of a company turnaround? Or just a temporary blip at an otherwise struggling company? I recently discussed these questions with Jonathan Rick, a digital media consultant based in Washington, DC.