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Twitter often is compared to Facebook, but the behemoth social network dwarfs the popular microblogging site in revenues and number of users. (Oli Scarff, Getty Photo / May 31, 2011) |
It's among the most recognized brands on the Internet and a cultural phenomenon, with as many as 400 million monthly users and a new $800 million funding deal — one of the largest ever.
It's also been the scene of recent high-level comings and goings and enough gossip to fuel a soap opera. And when it comes to users, estimated revenue and general buzz, Facebook is eating its lunch.
So whither Twitter, the high-flying social media network whose legions of die-hard fans are nearly equaled by its skeptics? Can the microblogging site become a big business, or does the turmoil at the top reflect a company in trouble?
"Ever since we started Twitter, there's been chatter, and from the beginning it's been negative," said Biz Stone, one of its three co-founders — and one of two who've left since the spring. "I believe that when people are talking about your product or company, it signals that they care."
He and other Twitter insiders insist that the co-founders' musical chairs — Jack Dorsey's 2008 replacement as chief executive by Evan Williams, Williams' loss of the top job last fall, Dorsey's March return as executive chairman, Williams' departure and finally Stone's exit to join Williams at a new venture — is little more than the natural shuffling of personnel as the company evolves.
They also say a focus on the founders overlooks the bench of executive talent new CEO Dick Costolo has recruited from Google, Pixar, eBay and Palm.
Still, the company's leaders face weighty challenges: how to better make money from the service's voluminous and fast-growing user traffic; how to banish the notorious "fail whale" icon that appears when the site is overloaded; and how to help users better navigate some 200 million daily "tweets."
Bill Reichert, a venture capitalist at Garage Technology Ventures, is among those who doubt they can pull it off.
"It's hard to find any other company that has been so successful by some measures be so incredibly lacking in innovation for so long," he said. "Twitter is no longer cool or exciting. It's just there, like texting. Only I pay for texting."
But while Reichert believes the company should sell itself to someone who can better turn its data stream into new products and services, Costolo and the board have doubled down, largely out of faith that Dorsey, who conceived and developed Twitter, can lead it to glory.
Costolo, a former improv comic and Google veteran who joined Twitter in fall 2009 and a year later supplanted Williams as chief executive, recently outlined his and Dorsey's vision of Twitter as "the world in your pocket."
At a technorati-laden conference in Aspen, Colo., he talked of billions of tweets being delivered via computer, smartphones and even TV, with improved search features enabling users to troll the stream for information — and enabling advertisers to reach those users unobtrusively.
Costolo added that he wooed Dorsey to return in March in part to help settle internal debates over what Twitter should be: "It's helpful to have the inventor of the product in the room."
Dorsey has likened his ouster by Williams in 2008 to "getting punched in the stomach," but Stone and other insiders say there's no personal animosity among the founders — just differing tactical visions for the company.
"It's weird, because they're such similar guys, such similar product visionaries and super-hard workers," Stone said of Dorsey and Williams. "They just have slightly different approaches to things."
Board member Peter Fenton, a partner at Benchmark Capital, said he's not concerned about Twitter's public growing pains. "The principals have been able to park their egos at the door. There's no lawsuits around Twitter," he said alluding to the suits involving Facebook's founding.
He also said the turnover is par for the course at a growing startup, noting that in the past two years, the company's payroll has shot to more than 600 from 25.
Twitter last month marked its fifth anniversary by tweeting that it had added 600,000 users in the previous day. Traffic has doubled since January, and Costolo cited Google Analytics in saying 400 million unique visitors used the site in June.
The most recent figures from tracking service ComScore Media Metrix are more modest, yet still robust, showing that nearly 145 million people worldwide visited Twitter.com that month.
It's also been the scene of recent high-level comings and goings and enough gossip to fuel a soap opera. And when it comes to users, estimated revenue and general buzz, Facebook is eating its lunch.
So whither Twitter, the high-flying social media network whose legions of die-hard fans are nearly equaled by its skeptics? Can the microblogging site become a big business, or does the turmoil at the top reflect a company in trouble?
"Ever since we started Twitter, there's been chatter, and from the beginning it's been negative," said Biz Stone, one of its three co-founders — and one of two who've left since the spring. "I believe that when people are talking about your product or company, it signals that they care."
He and other Twitter insiders insist that the co-founders' musical chairs — Jack Dorsey's 2008 replacement as chief executive by Evan Williams, Williams' loss of the top job last fall, Dorsey's March return as executive chairman, Williams' departure and finally Stone's exit to join Williams at a new venture — is little more than the natural shuffling of personnel as the company evolves.
They also say a focus on the founders overlooks the bench of executive talent new CEO Dick Costolo has recruited from Google, Pixar, eBay and Palm.
Still, the company's leaders face weighty challenges: how to better make money from the service's voluminous and fast-growing user traffic; how to banish the notorious "fail whale" icon that appears when the site is overloaded; and how to help users better navigate some 200 million daily "tweets."
Bill Reichert, a venture capitalist at Garage Technology Ventures, is among those who doubt they can pull it off.
"It's hard to find any other company that has been so successful by some measures be so incredibly lacking in innovation for so long," he said. "Twitter is no longer cool or exciting. It's just there, like texting. Only I pay for texting."
But while Reichert believes the company should sell itself to someone who can better turn its data stream into new products and services, Costolo and the board have doubled down, largely out of faith that Dorsey, who conceived and developed Twitter, can lead it to glory.
Costolo, a former improv comic and Google veteran who joined Twitter in fall 2009 and a year later supplanted Williams as chief executive, recently outlined his and Dorsey's vision of Twitter as "the world in your pocket."
At a technorati-laden conference in Aspen, Colo., he talked of billions of tweets being delivered via computer, smartphones and even TV, with improved search features enabling users to troll the stream for information — and enabling advertisers to reach those users unobtrusively.
Costolo added that he wooed Dorsey to return in March in part to help settle internal debates over what Twitter should be: "It's helpful to have the inventor of the product in the room."
Dorsey has likened his ouster by Williams in 2008 to "getting punched in the stomach," but Stone and other insiders say there's no personal animosity among the founders — just differing tactical visions for the company.
"It's weird, because they're such similar guys, such similar product visionaries and super-hard workers," Stone said of Dorsey and Williams. "They just have slightly different approaches to things."
Board member Peter Fenton, a partner at Benchmark Capital, said he's not concerned about Twitter's public growing pains. "The principals have been able to park their egos at the door. There's no lawsuits around Twitter," he said alluding to the suits involving Facebook's founding.
He also said the turnover is par for the course at a growing startup, noting that in the past two years, the company's payroll has shot to more than 600 from 25.
Twitter last month marked its fifth anniversary by tweeting that it had added 600,000 users in the previous day. Traffic has doubled since January, and Costolo cited Google Analytics in saying 400 million unique visitors used the site in June.
The most recent figures from tracking service ComScore Media Metrix are more modest, yet still robust, showing that nearly 145 million people worldwide visited Twitter.com that month.