• by Sean Hargrave , Staff Writer, July 30, 2014

It has happened. The positive quarter all marketers kind of thought Twitter had in it all along has come to fruition. 

There's no getting away from it -- Q2 will go down in the history books as the one where Dick Costolo was finally able to deliver some good news -- instead of losing cents on every share, the company actually delivered a positive two cent-per-share adjusted return. Revenue was up 129 percent to $312m thanks to a 124 percent surge in advertising revenue (of which four dollars in every five came from mobile, by the way).

There will be one question mark over all of this, however. Thankfully, I think it may turn out to be a moot point, but it's worth asking all the same. Was this simply a case of the social media giant -- and destination of the second-screener -- riding the popular wave of the World Cup, or is there an underlying trend here that will continue and grow? After all, the Q2 results revealed the World Cup has been its most successful sporting event ever, prompting 672m tweets. 

I raise the question because it needs to be said. I remember the famous phrase during the dot-com boom time that even Turkeys fly in a hurricane. But, I have to say, I don't think it will apply here.

Twitter has been gearing up for a big quarter for quite some time. The surprise, for me and analysts alike, is that it didn't come in three months' time. That's why it looks like this growth has real legs.

There will be improved integration with its MoPub network coming into play at the same time that its "everyday moments" will allow advertisers to target goods and services in real-time around conversations that users are having. There's also, to my mind, the most interesting development of all. The purchase of CardSpring will see Twitter allowing advertisers to run offers and link them to cards. Just what impact that will make in the next quarter is anyone's guess -- but I reckon it will be a real winner. Vouchers without the voucher will be a big hit.

So, we're not talking anything like Facebook numbers here. But we are talking about good figures that should improve as new revenue streams are turned on and start producing better results.

The company claims to be in a good position to beat Wall Street expectations and come in with a full fiscal year income of $1.31bn to $1.33bn.

If that is the case, then this is most definitely the quarter that Twitter turned a very prosperous corner.