On Thursday, Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey unleashed a series of tweets about Twitter’s place in the world, and showed support for CEO Dick Costolo, who has been under fire from some investors and analysts of late. Some are calling for his ouster, but Dorsey appears to have set out to affirm that he’s still the right man for the job.
1/Is this thing on?
— Jack (@jack) January 29, 2015
2/I have some things I'd like to say. To start…the tweetstorm!
— Jack (@jack) January 29, 2015
3/The folks using Twitter daily created the @username, the #hashtag, and the retweet, all within the constraint of 140 characters.
— Jack (@jack) January 29, 2015
4/The @, #, and RT have become cultural movements and have influenced every social and communications service since. Even offline.
— Jack (@jack) January 29, 2015
5/The “tweetstorm” and #/tweet syntax is a (clever) way around the 140 character constraint. Once again created by people using the service!
— Jack (@jack) January 29, 2015
6/I think it beautifully showcases Twitter's real strength: simple and engaging live conversation. From anywhere about anything!
— Jack (@jack) January 29, 2015
7/A service that enables the people using it to create new cultural practices is a service that is evergreen. Twitter is that service.
— Jack (@jack) January 29, 2015
8/And now, the team at Twitter. The team today is excellent in every way and is having a tangible positive impact on our pace and execution.
— Jack (@jack) January 29, 2015
9/We saw that Tuesday with a string of amazing launches that are making Twitter even better: https://t.co/5XWnxpNmQN
— Jack (@jack) January 29, 2015
10/As for @dickc, our cofounder @ev rightly pointed out there isn't a single person who has been thinking longer about Twitter than @dickc.
— Jack (@jack) January 29, 2015
11/@dickc was one of our first angel investors, our advisor, our COO, the creator of our revenue engine, and our CEO who assembled the team.
— Jack (@jack) January 29, 2015
12/And finally, the company. I don't know of many companies that also represent a movement. Twitter does.
— Jack (@jack) January 29, 2015
13/Twitter has more global awareness than most century old companies, and yet the brand actually stands for something.
— Jack (@jack) January 29, 2015
14/The Twitter bird has come to stand for empowerment and a positive force in civil society.
— Jack (@jack) January 29, 2015
15/The company constantly shows this spirit in action, especially in policy. And it's built a great business to enable that to flourish!
— Jack (@jack) January 29, 2015
16/I think Twitter is the closest thing we have to a global consciousness. And I believe the world needs that right now.
— Jack (@jack) January 29, 2015
17/That's all. Have a great day!
— Jack (@jack) January 29, 2015
He makes some pretty good points.
Dorsey, of course, knows the CEO role well having served in the position at Twitter originally, and currently serving as the CEO of Square, which is valued at somewhere around $6 billion.
The “string of amazing launches” Dorsey refers to would include this week’s announcement of native video on Twitter’s mobile apps and the addition of group messaging.
Image via Wikimedia Commons
