Twitter finally turned a profit in Q4 2017, a feat it had been unable to achieve following an IPO in 2013, although its user growth is still slow.

The social media company made a profit of $91 million in the recent quarter compared with a $167 million loss in Q4 2016. Revenue was up 2 per cent year-on-year to $732 million.

In a letter to shareholders, Twitter said the revenue growth was driven by “continued strong engagement growth, improved revenue features, improved RoI, and better sales execution.” The company said it launched new features during the quarter to help people discover and talk about what’s happening on Twitter, including expanding the character limit to 280 characters for more people.

CEO Jack Dorsey was also positive in an earnings statement: “Q4 was a strong finish to the year. We returned to revenue growth, achieved our goal of GAAP profitability, increased our shipping cadence and reached five consecutive quarters of double digit DAU growth. I’m proud of the steady progress we made in 2017, and confident in our path ahead.”

The platform racked up 330 million monthly active users in the the quarter, a 4 per cent increase year-over-year, but the figure remained flat when compared to Q3 2017. This, the company said, was partly because it stepped up efforts to shut down “spam, malicious automation, and fake accounts.”

Average daily active users grew 12 per cent year-over-year, which the company said marked “the fifth consecutive quarter of double-digit growth,” although it doesn’t provide actual numbers for this metric.

When it reported Q3 earnings in October 2017, the social network forecast it would soon turn a profit in after narrowing its net loss year-on-year.