Inside Twitter's Not So Terrific Week on Wall Street

May 9, 2014— -- Here's the low-down on Twitter, in fewer than 140 characters: Twitter has been having a topsy-turvy week on the stock market -- but one analyst predicts its future could rest with photo sharing tools.

The full story:

A quantity of Twitter stock was unlocked earlier this week, allowing long-standing shareholders to dump their shares, subsequently sending the company's stock tumbling nearly 18 percent.

While its common to see a stock fall after a lock-up period ends, Twitter's nosedive was especially jarring compared to Groupon, which dipped nearly 9 percent, while Facebook's stock jumped more than 12 percent, according to an analysis by Statista.

"I think one of the reasons is the market is trying to figure out if Twitter is ever going to be a mainstream platform," Arvind Bhatia, an analyst at Sterne Agee, told ABC News.

"That’s what we hear from investors. Can this be as large as Facebook?" Bhatia said. "The last two quarters' growth has not been sufficient for people to make that conclusion."

Twitter did not respond to a request for an interview, however other media outlets have reported that key stakeholders plan to hold onto their Twitter shares.

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This week, the site appeared to put a special emphasis on directing users to its photo sharing tools, urging them to "tell your story in pictures" -- kind of like the popular Instagram, which is owned by Facebook.

Bhatia said he thinks Twitter's move to feed the photo sharing appetites of users could help the company move from being a niche platform to something viable in the long run.

"They're trying all different things. Their profile page for users has started to look more like the Facebook profile page," Bhatia said. "They’re definitely trying more things to make it more consumer friendly and easier to use. Hopefully that will result in them getting user growth."