A new study released on Tuesday by the consulting firm eMarketer estimates that Twitter Inc.'s messaging service will have almost 400 million users from around the world by 2018.
The estimation is short of the 1 billion that was expected from the social network, according to Reuters.
The study suggests that within five years, Twitter's user growth will stop and remain the same in huge developed markets.
eMarketer said the company's user growth in important markets in the U.S. and Japan will have experienced a steady decline to 6.4 percent and 6.1 percent, respectively, by 2018, CNBC reported. The firm added that the number of Twitter users around the world will have reached 386.9 million users.
The social network did not see any increase in users during its first two quarters as a public company.
eMarketer said, however, that Twitter has "significant potential" in new markets, and expects the company to receive more users in Asia. The research firm said India and Indonesia will be the third-and fourth-largest Twitter populations, Reuters reported.
The firm added that the social network could experience a 60 percent increase in users in India this year.
Twitter also played an important role in the recently finished elections, CNBC reported. Despite the social network's impacts, analyst believe it is a problem for developing countries to rely on Twitter due to digital advertising prices staying much lower in rising markets.
eMarketer said that one unrevealed factor that could change the predictions for Twitter is its status in China, since Twitter and Facebook are forbidden in the country. Dick Costolo, chief executive of Twitter, met with Chinese government officials in March in his first visit to China. The company did not acknowledge the chance Twitter had of being allowed in the country, while the Chinese state media made the visit appear less important.
