International mobile messaging service LINE continues to show impressive growth, so much so that it’s finally begun to outstrip Twitter. Their revenues have increased to over 223% of last year, and 19% over the past three months alone. People compare LINE to Twitter because both companies are centered around direct – or private – messaging, something that Twitter is only now focusing on. DM’s were a more hidden feature of Twitter, while LINE has made them the prominent feature of their app and have succeeded financially as a result. LINE also offers gaming, which represents a large portion of their revenue, and advertising via direct messaging and gaming – as opposed to blasting hashtags out into the feed – has been proven to be more effective. All that is to say: this is further proof that messaging apps, as we’ve mentioned before, are an effective way to get a direct line into customers and users across the globe.