https://www.buzzfeed.com/alexkantrowitz/how-twitter-made-the...
even as those eulogies were being published, things started changing. Twitter began beating earnings expectations. Star ex-employees trickled back in, finding a new, more positive internal culture than the toxic one they’d left. Advertisers came back too, as did users. The company finally began addressing its trolling problem. And its stock, once unappealing to analysts like Nathanson at $14, is now trading above $46.
It’s still somewhat taboo to say it, but it’s no longer possible to deny it: Twitter is making an unexpected, somewhat miraculous comeback. It is the first major consumer social company to lose users and start growing again in a meaningful way.
I don't know if Trump is really causing Twitter usage to increase, but it has certainly made people who don't use Twitter more aware of it.
If you compare the awareness/user ratio on the various social media platforms, I bet Twitter's is pretty high, which means they have potential for significant growth if they can improve the UX and the "how do I use Twitter? Why would anyone use it?" problem.
I remember following Scott Adams, whose work I enjoyed. Before he started talking about Trump, he had some 40k followers.
Since Trump, his follower count has ballooned to 250k and he almost exclusively talks about Trump now
The real surprise is that they've failed to effectively monetize their huge, huge audience.