• by Gavin O'Malley  @mp_gavin, November 10, 2016

At a time of great uncertainly for Twitter, the social giant is losing its longtime Chief Operating Officer, Adam Bain.

“After 6 years and a once-in-a-lifetime run, I let [Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey] know that I am ready to change gears and do something new outside the company,” Bain tweeted on Wednesday.

In response, Dorsey tweeted: “So much love and respect for Adam … He's a mentor, a partner, and family forever.”

At least for the moment, Anthony Noto, Twitter’s Chief Financial Officer, will take on the additional role and assume some of Bain’s responsibilities.

Despite its best efforts -- which included bringing back Dorsey as CEO, last year -- Twitter continues to struggle. Recently, data emer ged showing that ad agencies are increasingly bypassing the platform in favor other social networks -- Instagram especially.

eMarketer recently released a forecast suggesting that Snapchat will overtake Twitter in terms of domestic users, before the end of the year. More broadly, Twitter has seen few successes since its IPO in 2013. Rather than right its ship, Dorsey has seen Twitter’s stock sink since his return last October.  

Last month, Twitter said third-quarter revenue was up by about 8% -- less than the 20% growth reported by the social giant a quarter earlier, and far less than the 58% growth seen during the third quarter of 2015.

Worse yet, Twitter said it planned to reduce its global workforce by about 9% -- which amounts to roughly 300 employees -- and restructure the company accordingly.

The restructuring will focus mainly on reorganizing Twitter's sales, partnerships and marketing efforts, Dorsey said.

Analysts took Dorsey’s words with a grain of salt.

“I'm cautiously optimistic about [Twitter’s] prospects if they do focus on core products and curbing abuse which should both attract and retain users and set up the platform to monetize -- potentially in new ways,” said Melissa Parrish, an analyst at Forrester Research.

Noto, Twitter’s CFO, promised the company would become more disciplined about how it focuses on various efforts. “We intend to fully invest in our highest priorities and are de-prioritizing certain initiatives and simplifying how we operate in other areas,” Noto stated.

Among other persistent problems, Twitter remains unable to explain its core purpose to average users.

“Those who use Twitter do so because they know exactly what Twitter is for, and why it’s important in their lives,” Leslie Berland, Twitter’s CMO, noted in a recent blog post.

Among the many people who don’t use the network, “most didn’t know or simply misunderstood what Twitter was for,” Berland admitted. “Many thought of Twitter primarily as a social network, a place to find and connect with friends and family members.”

“Second, they thought if they wanted to use Twitter, they were ‘supposed to Tweet every day’ and didn’t think they would have that much to say,” Berland added. Her team recently sought to clear up the confusion with another marketing push.

Twitter also recently explored a sale, but was unable to find a fitting suitor.