Twitter has said earnings missed market forecasts for the final three months of the year, and warned that advertising sales will continue to lag due to competition.

The social media giant reported a 1% increase in revenues to 717 million US dollars (£571 million) in the three months to December 31, while markets had pencilled in 740 million US dollars (£589 million).

Twitter said it expects advertising revenue growth to continue to drag behind audience growth in the year ahead.

"Advertising revenue growth may be further impacted by escalating competition for digital ad spending and Twitter's re-evaluation of its revenue product feature portfolio, which could result in the de-emphasis of certain product features," the company said.