Twitter loses market to Facebook as Wall Street firm slashes investment rating

Though **Twitter** is a favourite place for US President Donald Trump to reach his audience, it has lost out to **Facebook** as Wall Street firm Jefferies slashed its investment rating on Twitter to neutral from buy. [caption id=“attachment_3975915” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Facebook and Twitter logo.[/caption] Jefferies also cut Twitter’s price target by $4, from $20 to $16 a share. According to a report in Investopedia on Friday, Jefferies analyst Brent Thill argued that while Twitter has broad user engagement, it was having a hard time monetising it. “In social (media) we see a clear winner in FB (Facebook),” Thill was quoted as saying. According to Thill, the price target could fall further, another four percent. Twitter’s shares rose up only a little more than one percent in 2017 while the Facebook stocks rose over 40 percent. Unlike Twitter, Facebook has had no trouble to grow its user base and make money from advertising in the second quarter (Q2). In Q2, the micro-blogging site’s revenue was down five percent to $574 million. Also, its monthly active user base showed a stagnation. In an effort to attract advertisers, Twitter collaborated with several media houses to broadcast programmes and sports events live. But even that has not paid off as Facebook offers a stronger digital video propositions. “We will pay close attention to advertiser sentiment over coming months and effectiveness of live video,” Thill noted.