What story will Twitter’s first earnings report tell?

Twitter is announcing its first ever earnings figures later today. But for the social media company, revenue is hardly the only number that matters.

Sure, earnings do matter in an earnings report. But people who follow Twitter — the stock — are going to be looking other places for clues, too.

Debra Aho Williamson, an analyst at eMarketer, says, “I’m going to be watching for any information about how big their user base is getting.”

How many more people are using Twitter is important.

“They do trail behind Facebook by a wide margin,” she says, “and there have been some concerns that while they are growing substantially, Twitter is still a hard service to use.”

Williamson will be looking for any sign Twitter might try to simplify. Nate Elliott, who follows Twitter for Forrester Research, says, “I’m most looking forward to hearing what the management has to say about their plans for marketing and advertising offerings.”

Of course, all these indicators —  how many users, how many ads — add up to the question investors want an answer to: how much revenue?