A selection of baseball-related tweets were featured in the ad, which was shown during the live coverage of baseball's season-ending World Series.
However, text appeared so quickly in the lively sequence that some took to the web to express bewilderment.
The ad was made to promote "Moments", which highlights trending stories on the social media platform.
One Twitter user tweeted, "That Twitter commercial was *really bad*. Can't imagine anyone feeling invited to use the service or see the value after seeing the spot."
And blogger John Gruber described it as "incomprehensible", going so far as to say: "Someone should be fired."
Some were positive about the broadcast, though. "That Twitter commercial is pretty cool," tweeted one viewer.
Twitter has recently been struggling to continue to attract large numbers of new users to its network - a problem which some say is because of the slightly esoteric nature of the platform.
"I'm a baseball fan [â€¦] I've been on Twitter since 2007 and to be honest I had trouble making sense of it," said digital entrepreneur George Nimeh, at the Berlin School of Creative Leadership.
"I can't imagine what it would be like for someone who is unfamiliar with what Twitter really is. It was really fast, it was kind of a mish-mash of different stuff."
Mr Nimeh added that while Twitter's user figures showed strong year-on-year growth a few years ago, that growth had slumped to less than 20% early in 2015.
"I think Twitter's fundamental problem is they've never been able to very simply and succinctly explain to people who are not familiar with Twitter what it is - and this particular ad this commercial does nothing to help," he told the BBC.

29 June 2016 Last updated at 02:24 BST
Well, the BBC has been around the region looking for people who are living the dream, and fulfilling their career ambitions.
This week, we find out how Australian actor Eamon Flack landed his dream job as artistic director of Sydney's Belvoir theatre company.
Produced by the BBC's Katie Beck. All stills by Brett Boardman.

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7 August 2015 Last updated at 17:15 BST
The company's chief Elon Musk hinted at the device in December, describing it on Twitter as a "solid metal snake".
After the firm revealed a video of the charger in action he joked that it "does seem kinda wrong".
At the moment the gadget is just a prototype and the company has no plans to sell it in the near future.
The first television advertisement campaign by Twitter has left some American viewers confused.
[NEXT_CONCEPT]
Most of us work to make money - and if it happens to be by doing something we love, we're considered lucky.
[NEXT_CONCEPT]
An electric car charger that can find its own way into a vehicle has been unveiled by Tesla Motors.