• Home
  • Latest
  • Fortune 500
  • Finance
  • Tech
  • Leadership
  • Lifestyle
  • Rankings
  • Multimedia

Trendingnow

1

As CEO of the $96 billion Sam’s Club, Latriece Watkins is testing her mettle at the warehouse retailer that produced CEOs for Walmart, Target, and Walgreens

2

As AI slashes white-collar jobs, Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff says almost no one is being hired—except in sales

3

Jeff Bezos wants the bottom half of earners to pay zero income tax—he says nurses making just $75K should save $12K a year

1

As CEO of the $96 billion Sam’s Club, Latriece Watkins is testing her mettle at the warehouse retailer that produced CEOs for Walmart, Target, and Walgreens

2

As AI slashes white-collar jobs, Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff says almost no one is being hired—except in sales

3

Jeff Bezos wants the bottom half of earners to pay zero income tax—he says nurses making just $75K should save $12K a year
Tech

Twitter Takes On Its Most Difficult Challenge Again: Explaining Itself

By
Kia Kokalitcheva
Kia Kokalitcheva
Down Arrow Button Icon
By
Kia Kokalitcheva
Kia Kokalitcheva
Down Arrow Button Icon
July 25, 2016, 6:53 PM ET
Illustrations Of Popular Mobile Apps And Social Media Sites
People are seen as silhouettes as they check mobile devices whilst standing against an illuminated wall bearing Twitter Inc.'s logo in this arranged photograph in London, U.K., on Tuesday, Jan. 5, 2016. Twitter Inc. may be preparing to raise its character limit for tweets to the thousands from the current 140, a person with knowledge of the matter said. Photographer: Chris Ratcliffe/Bloomberg via Getty ImagesChris Ratcliffe—Bloomberg via Getty Images

Twitter’s new chief marketing officer is taking on her biggest challenge to date: Explaining the 10-year-old service to, well, much of the world.

On Monday, Leslie Berland, who took over the job in January after several years at American Express, unveiled Twitter’s newest effort to demystify itself—something it has struggled with for years. While 90% of people Twitter surveyed globally recognize its brand, not all of them use it. That’s mostly because they don’t understand its purpose, or think they’re supposed to tweet every day.

“We realized we had some explaining and clarifying to do!” Berland writes in a blog post about the new campaign.

Indeed, Twitter, you’ve got some ‘splaining to do about your service.

Get Data Sheet, Fortune’s technology newsletter.

The company’s main service has unquestionably left a big mark on modern communications, going as far as helping to rally support for large political movements like the Arab Spring in 2010 and 2011. But while celebrities, journalists, and marketers quickly grasped the value of Twitter as both a social network and a source for distributing and consuming information, much of the world hasn’t.

Case in point: Twitter’s struggles to continue adding new active users.

For several quarters, Twitter’s user growth has been too slow for Wall Street’s liking. The company hit a massive wall during last year’s fourth quarter, when it added no new monthly active users. This was Twitter’s first flat quarter since its initial public offering in 2013. Despite its ability to grow revenue, it’s consistently been compared to fellow social media company Facebook, whose user and revenue growth has been seemingly unstoppable.

Twitter has tried to attack the problem from a variety of angles, such as experiments showing especially interesting tweets on its homepage to visitors who are not signed in as way to get them use the service. In October, it also rolled out “Moments,” a new section for highlighting tweets and topics that are trending at any given moment. At the time, Twitter told tech news site The Verge that its goal was to appeal to various types of users—sports fans and celebrity fans, for example—by hooking them through their interests, rather than to the service itself.

Moments and its television commercial didn’t turn out to be the blockbuster success Twitter hoped for.

Now, Twitter is back to trying to explain itself, again. The company released two short videos as part of its new marketing push, one about Twitter’s service in general, and one showing how helpful it can be for following politics—quite timely given the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia this week. It plans to more promotions as part of the campaign.

https://twitter.com/twitter/status/757561453079474178

https://twitter.com/twitter/status/757561586030551040

This is certainly one of Twitter’s biggest challenges to date.

The company plans to unveil second quarter results on Tuesday.

About the Author
By Kia Kokalitcheva
See full bioRight Arrow Button Icon

Latest in Tech

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025

Most Popular

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Fortune Secondary Logo
Rankings
  • 100 Best Companies
  • Fortune 500
  • Global 500
  • Fortune 500 Europe
  • Most Powerful Women
  • World's Most Admired Companies
  • See All Rankings
  • Lists Calendar
Sections
  • Finance
  • Fortune Crypto
  • Features
  • Leadership
  • Health
  • Commentary
  • Success
  • Retail
  • Mpw
  • Tech
  • Lifestyle
  • CEO Initiative
  • Asia
  • Politics
  • Conferences
  • Europe
  • Newsletters
  • Personal Finance
  • Environment
  • Magazine
  • Education
Customer Support
  • Frequently Asked Questions
  • Customer Service Portal
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms Of Use
  • Single Issues For Purchase
  • International Print
Commercial Services
  • Advertising
  • Fortune Brand Studio
  • Fortune Analytics
  • Fortune Conferences
  • Business Development
  • Group Subscriptions
About Us
  • About Us
  • Press Center
  • Work At Fortune
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map
  • About Us
  • Press Center
  • Work At Fortune
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map
  • Facebook icon
  • Twitter icon
  • LinkedIn icon
  • Instagram icon
  • Pinterest icon

Latest in Tech

guitar
AIMusic
AI is splitting the music world. This 49-year-old guitarist used it to keep playing after Parkinson’s
By Mustakim Hasnath and The Associated PressMay 30, 2026
2 minutes ago
Russian spies are more aggressively trying to steal Western technology as sanctions add to mounting problems for Putin’s wartime economy
EuropeRussia
Russian spies are more aggressively trying to steal Western technology as sanctions add to mounting problems for Putin’s wartime economy
By Emma Burrows and The Associated PressMay 30, 2026
59 minutes ago
Matt Rogers
Commentarystart-ups
I worked with Steve Jobs at Apple, where every OS update killed startups. AI founders are about to face the same thing
By Matt RogersMay 30, 2026
3 hours ago
ts
CybersecurityLaw
Taylor Swift just exposed a blind spot in AI law — and it’s bigger than copyright
By Daryl Lim and The ConversationMay 30, 2026
3 hours ago
tape
AILaw
AI is already helping people plan mass shootings. The law is barely paying attention
By Anat Lior and The ConversationMay 30, 2026
4 hours ago
p
AIPope
Two popes, two industrial revolutions — and one warning for Big AI
By Nick Lichtenberg, Nathan Schneider and The ConversationMay 30, 2026
4 hours ago

Most Popular

As CEO of the $96 billion Sam’s Club, Latriece Watkins is testing her mettle at the warehouse retailer that produced CEOs for Walmart, Target, and Walgreens
Magazine
As CEO of the $96 billion Sam’s Club, Latriece Watkins is testing her mettle at the warehouse retailer that produced CEOs for Walmart, Target, and Walgreens
By Emma HinchliffeMay 27, 2026
3 days ago
As AI slashes white-collar jobs, Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff says almost no one is being hired—except in sales
Success
As AI slashes white-collar jobs, Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff says almost no one is being hired—except in sales
By Emma BurleighMay 28, 2026
2 days ago
Jeff Bezos wants the bottom half of earners to pay zero income tax—he says nurses making just $75K should save $12K a year
Success
Jeff Bezos wants the bottom half of earners to pay zero income tax—he says nurses making just $75K should save $12K a year
By Preston ForeMay 21, 2026
9 days ago
Current price of oil as of May 29, 2026
Personal Finance
Current price of oil as of May 29, 2026
By Joseph HostetlerMay 29, 2026
1 day ago
UBS says Ron DeSantis has a problem with his plan to help 92% of homeowners save on property taxes: His own state's data
Personal Finance
UBS says Ron DeSantis has a problem with his plan to help 92% of homeowners save on property taxes: His own state's data
By Nick LichtenbergMay 28, 2026
2 days ago
Jamie Dimon tells Gen Z to 'learn how to think, learn how to earn respect' as he describes 'great meeting' with Zohran Mamdani
Success
Jamie Dimon tells Gen Z to 'learn how to think, learn how to earn respect' as he describes 'great meeting' with Zohran Mamdani
By Nick LichtenbergMay 29, 2026
23 hours ago

© 2026 Fortune Media IP Limited. All Rights Reserved. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy | CA Notice at Collection and Privacy Notice | Do Not Sell/Share My Personal Information
FORTUNE is a trademark of Fortune Media IP Limited, registered in the U.S. and other countries. FORTUNE may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. Offers may be subject to change without notice.