Twitter And Google, Together Again

Twitter Inc (NYSE: TWTR) is set to release its earnings later in the day on Thursday. Investors are hungry for all-important user growth statistics data for a better picture of how the company has fared in the changing social media landscape.

The company’s third-quarter report showed that its monthly active users had shrunk, which caused Twitter shares to lose around 16 percent. Analysts are expecting to see user growth in the fourth quarter of just 2.8 percent, the company’s slowest growth quarterly growth rate to date. While Twitter’s revenue has seen healthy growth over the past year, many worry that a diminishing user base could present a problem down the road.

That could change soon.

Related Link: Short Squeeze In Twitter Ahead Of Earnings

On Wednesday, Twitter made good on promises to drive user growth as the company reportedly inked a deal with Google Inc (NASDAQ: GOOG) (NASDAQ: GOOGL) that will allow the site’s 140-character tweets to appear in the search engine’s results, according to Bloomberg.

The deal would give Google direct access to the social media site’s data, making users’ tweets immediately available for search. Twitter CEO Dick Costolo is hoping that distributing tweets on the world’s most popular search engine will drive users to the site and promote more engagement and signups.

This is not the first time Twitter and Google have combined forces. From 2009 to 2011 Google had similar access, but former Twitter COO Ali Rowghani chose not to renew the agreement in favor of maintaining control over the site’s content.

The details of the 2015 agreement are still murky, but the widespread distribution of content will likely net Twitter increased advertising revenue.