Just ten years ago, a company’s digital presence was usually limited to a website. Social media as we know today was in its infancy and used primarily for non-work purposes. As reliance on digital increases, however, it is considered unusual for a brand not to use social platforms to connect and engage with their customers. But for news and social networking site Twitter, a recent drop in its reputation rankings indicates a shifting perception of the platform’s corporate value.

Recent research published by leading reputation-based research and advisory firm, Reputation Institute, indicates that among the British public, the perception of Twitter stalls at an average 60.6%. Its areas of weakness are cited as corporate social responsibility (CSR) and governance, which score 60.6% and 61.2% respectively.

The findings were published yesterday, generating speculation around Twitter’s ability to sustain its stock market position in the first quarter of 2017 (Q1). Despite its popularity with social media users – around 13 million people in the UK have a Twitter account – the company historically struggles to rectify its financial underperformance.

James Bickford, managing director of the Reputation Institute, says, “Despite the excitement around Twitter’s debut on the stock market back in 2013, the company’s results have been consistently disappointing. In the run up to each financial announcement there are always some optimists who think they will turn it around, but unfortunately up until now their optimism has not been rewarded.”

Prior to Twitter announcing its Q1 financial performance, Bickford said, “Concerns for the Q1 2017 announcement are that user growth will be stagnant and that advertising revenues will have slumped. Data licensing could be an area that sees growth.” However, Twitter’s bad news regarding its corporate reputation was somewhat recovered through its better than expected Q1 indicators. The site has boosted its pre-market trading shares by 10% and generated a further 9m monthly active users – far above the predicted 2.3 million. However, the site also reported its first year-over-year decline in revenue.

Bickford says, “Our data suggests there is a strong correlation between a company’s reputation and their financial performance. It is clear that the core competencies are not in doubt, but that the UK general public does not admire or trust Twitter as a whole. Clearer actions on corporate responsibility would help hugely to address this.”

The continual annual increase in Twitter users indicates that, despite predictions, the platform continues to offer a faster, more direct alternative to the often picture- and social-heavy offerings of Facebook and LinkedIn. It also provides a valuable boost to corporate brand awareness. A wealth of applications, such as Hootsuite and Tweetdeck, are available to businesses to incentivise the tweeting experience – yet perhaps streamlining is necessary to attract further investment.

Twitter’s strong performance in terms of innovation and product offering indicates a focused growth strategy might yet turn around the social media giant’s floundering corporate reputation.