• by Gavin O'Malley , Staff Writer @mp_gavin, June 15, 2016

What is Twitter up to with SoundCloud?

We now know that the struggling social giant recently invested about $70 million in the music service.

We also know that Twitter tried to buy SoundCloud a couple years back. (While that deal fell through, the pair still partnered on some features that made it easier for Twitter users to discover and listen to audio right in their timelines.)

And we know that SoundCloud could use some help competing against bigger rivals like Spotify. Once referred to as the “YouTube of audio,” the Berlin-based startup has struggled to profit from its user base. In fact, it reportedly doubled its losses from 2013 to 2014.

But what does the investment mean for Twitter?

Is it healthy experimentation in the interest of greater user engagement, or a sign of desperation? In other words, is the investment an acknowledgement by Twitter that its core service is not enough to keep users coming back?

Either way, it’s not a new pursuit for Twitter. Along with its interest in SoundCloud, the social giant is also reported to have kicked the tires of Spotify and Pandora.

Last year, it bought SnappyTV, which powers a popular platform for the live-clipping, editing and distribution of video across the Web.

In late 2012, meanwhile, Twitter grabbed music discovery start-up We Are Hunted, which it later used to launch its own music service, Twitter Music. Because of a lukewarm response, however, Twitter announced plans to shelve the service in early 2015.

For whatever reason, Twitter is showing signs of growth. Despite sluggish domestic numbers, it achieved respectable gains in monthly active users during the first quarter of the year. All told, MAUs reached 310 million during the period -- up from 302 million a year ago, and 305 million last quarter.

Bigger picture, however, Twitter continues to lose ground to newer networks like Instagram and Snapchat. Before the end of the year, in fact, Snapchat is on track to overtake Twitter in terms of domestic users, according to a recent forecast from eMarketer.

In that context, Twitter’s dalliances with smallish music services seem desperate indeed.