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Twitter's former CEO is working on a fitness platform
Dick Costolo hasn't been sitting on his thumbs since getting the boot from Twitter. The former CEO has announced that he's starting a new company whose software "reimagines the path to personal fitness." It'll stress motivation for exercise, he says, not just tracking your vitals. Costolo isn't saying when he expects products to be ready (he hasn't even mentioned a company name yet), but there's at least a roadmap.
Twitter swaps CEOs again, Jack Dorsey takes over temporarily
Twitter's stock slid significantly in April when its earnings report leaked out early, and in a likely-related move, now it's changing CEOs. Dick Costolo is out (at left in the picture above, taken during the company's IPO), although he will remain on the company's board, while founder, chairman, first user and former CEO Jack Dorsey (at right) is taking over again on an interim basis. He will stay on as CEO at Square while a search committee -- including yet another former Twitter CEO, Evan Williams -- searches for a permanent replacement. Of course, that the report leaked isn't the problem, it's the user growth, which couldn't match other social network stars like Instagram. Investor Chris Sacca recently published a lengthy blog post about "what Twitter could be" and despite a number of changes over the last year, it appears many of the folks owning shares had different ideas than its (as of July 1st) former leader. Update: According to Costolo (on a conference call) he initiated discussions with the board about stepping down "late last year." Jack Dorsey followed up by stating that the change has "no connection" to the company's near term results.
Twitter says just when you'll get others' favorites in your timeline
It's no secret that Twitter is now putting others' favorites into your timeline, but the actual trigger for those appearances has remained a mystery. Is it purely random? Keyword-based? As it turns out, it's more like a slot machine. The company's Dick Costolo has revealed that those favorites appear when you pull to refresh twice, and there aren't any new tweets to show. Twitter is simply trying to respond to your insatiable demand for updates, Costolo says. In other words, the social network would rather give you some recycled tweets than leave you hanging.
Twitter's active user growth continued to improve this quarter
One of Twitter's primary concerns is that the number of active users -- those who use the network at least once a month -- continues to grow at a healthy pace, and its latest quarterly earnings confirm that the social network has been eating its vegetables. After reporting a solid growth of 14 million active users last quarter, the service brought in 16 million this time around, reaching a grand total of 271 million. This is an increase of 6.3 percent, which is an improvement over last quarter's 5.8 percent (though not quite as good as the ten percent growth the company saw a year ago). Not bad, given that it had to admit a slowing number of new users earlier this year in its first earnings report as an IPO. Of this number, Twitter acknowledged that 78 percent of them are actively using the service on mobile devices (this is reflected in the fact that 81 percent of advertising revenue comes from smartphones and tablets).
Twitter CEO plans 'personal trip' to China, will include meeting government officials
Twitter's Dick Costolo will make his first trip to China, traveling to Shanghai to talk with government officials and academics. The social network has rejected the idea that it would open an office anytime soon in China, as it would tie the company to Chinese law. A Twitter spokesman said: "Dick is visiting China because he wants to learn more about Chinese culture and the country's thriving technology sector." According to Reuters, Costolo will meet Shanghai officials including representatives of the Shanghai free trade zone, established in 2013 to test further market liberalization in China. Officials have previously denied reports that internet censorship and social network access would also be loosened within the trade zone.
Twitter hopes to grow by making it easier to follow your friends
You may have noticed that Twitter is very celebrity-focused; at least for awhile, it was more likely to suggest that new users follow a Kardashian than their friends down the street. That's changing, however. CEO Dick Costolo tells those at a Goldman Sachs conference that he plans to revive the social network's slowing user growth by encouraging newcomers to get involved. Twitter is reducing the number of steps it takes to sign up, and it's suggesting people who are more likely to follow back, such as phone contacts. Not that Costolo is betting everything on that one approach, though. The company is also experimenting with more ideas, including additional cards and commerce. It's too soon to tell whether or not the chief executive has the right idea, but it's safe to say that he doesn't want Twitter to stand still.
Dick Costolo, CEO of Twitter, live at D11
The man worth at least a few billion tweets is about to take the stage here at D11, and we'll be covering Dick Costolo's every utterance as he's interviewed in one of these famed red chairs. The sit-down comes just hours after Facebook's own Sheryl Sandberg took the stage, and we're expecting quite the wide range of questions. Twitter has evolved into a global communications platform, not just for individuals looking to rise up against an oppressive regime, but for brands looking to better address their audiences. How to balance all of that? Join us after the break as we find out in real time.
Twitter and Vine combine to enable embedded video tweeting
Twitter took Vine under its wing late last year, and it looks like that new relationship is bearing its first fruit. Earlier today, Twitter CEO Dick Costolo revealed Vine's new capabilities with a single tweet earlier today with a Vine video embedded. Like Twitter's card implementation, the video appears as a link in the tweet, and users need only click the "View media" (instead of "Show summary") link underneath for that tweet to expand and show the embedded vid. Once played, the clip loops until you tell it to stop. The video Costolo shared is only a few seconds long, so we don't know if there's a time limit for embedded Vine videos, nor can we say when the rest of us will be able to start using Vine. However, we can surely point you to the source to see the service in action.
Twitter archive downloads start rolling out to select users, lets you relive 2006 tomfoolery
Remember how you used to rave about MySpace or how excited you were to snag a brown Microsoft Zune? Twitter remembers, and it's ready to let you relive the most awkward thoughts you ever deemed fit to publish on the internet. As promised by CEO Dick Costolo Twitter is letting users download a complete archive of their digital musings. The option hasn't hit the mainstream Twitterverse just yet, but select users are finding the option hidden in the web client's settings page under the heading "your Twitter archive." Compiled archives are pretty, too -- wrapped in HTML and organized by month. Ready to relive 2006, 140 characters at a time? Check out your own archive (if you're lucky enough to have the option) and share your favorite embarrassments with us in the comments after the break. Update: In a statement to The Next Web, Twitter has confirmed that the archive download feature is only being tested with "a small percentage" of users.
Twitter CEO reveals plans for interactive tweets, content curation, reinforces belief in syndication
Twitter has ruffled a few feathers recently, so when CEO Dick Costolo took the stage at the Online News Association conference in San Francisco, he took the opportunity to put some minds at rest. First he dismissed the idea that the service would become a media company by forcing users to the site or official app for content, before reasserting his belief in syndication. Costolo then went on to imply that the reason behind the tighter (and unpopular) API controls was ensuring quality -- stating that Twitter would reach its full potential now there's more control over how tweets are delivered. With boots strapped, we can look forward to some new features, such as the option to curate messages that are published (such as during live events) plus tweets with interactive features like polls during live sports games. The famous 140 character limit is to remain, but will also serve as a "caption for additional functionality." Perhaps of most interest to disenfranchised developers, however, was the mention of application functionality in tweets, where short messages could contain small interactive apps. Something for devs to get potentially get back on board with? We hope so. But until further details unfold, we're still left considering our options.
Twitter's cooking up a way for you to archive your old tweets, relive your Bieber fever again and again
Frustrated by a lack of access to your thoughts and feelings about world events and sandwiches circa 2008? Twitter's working on a way to let users export and download old tweets into a file, according to CEO Dick Costolo. As far a service for search all users, the exec doesn't see such a solution coming any time soon, telling reporters, "It's a different way of architecting search, going through all tweets of all time. You can't just put three engineers on it."
Twitter CEO calls Apple a "corporate mentor"
Speaking onstage at the Web 2.0 Summit in San Francisco Monday evening, Twitter CEO Dick Costolo said that Apple was a corporate mentor to the company. "Those guys [at Apple] are an amazing partner for us. When they think about products and enhancing products they think about editing them. [At Twitter] we're going to offer simplicity in a world of complexity... they're a corporate mentor to us." The comments were spurred when Costolo was asked about how the iOS 5 Twitter integration was working out for the company so far. That integration could well be the most important move Twitter has made in the last year. On October 12th, the day iOS 5 was released, Costolo said that Twitter saw new user signups from iOS devices more than triple. "The iOS integration is going to be absolutely huge for us," Costolo said. "It's going to be even better than we thought it would be." [via Gigaom]
Dick Costolo named new Twitter CEO, Evan Williams to focus on product strategy
To say Evan Williams has had a stellar run at Twitter would be understating things tremendously, but he apparently couldn't take the pressure after watching The Social Network this weekend. All kidding aside, Mr. Williams has decided to step aside and let COO Dick Costolo take over as CEO, while he focuses entirely on "product strategy." It's unclear what exactly Evan will be doing at his new post, nor why he decided to step away from the ultimate limelight, but then again, it's hard to sum up a corner office job description in just 140 characters.
