7 people who make Twitter the unchallenged force it is today
“I tweet, therefore my entire life has shrunk to 140 character chunks of instant event and pre-digested gnomic wisdom and swearing.” – Neil Gaiman
Imagine a world without Twitter. Without having the linchpin of social media opinion and interaction. Where reaching out to politicians, celebrities, and business tycoons meant unread emails, Facebook messages, and even handheld letters. Where instead of depending on one prolific medium for instant news, we would have to keep constant tabs on a multitude of digital channels for varying content.
Image : shutterstock
Twitter isn’t just another social media platform for ‘random musings’ and professional-looking ‘Insta-pictures’. It is a medium for the shortest, most direct and evenly accessible interactions between two entities, be it people, brands, or organisations. Today, world leaders like Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Donald Trump, and entrepreneurial leaders like Elon Musk have taken to the platform to reach out to the masses.
Today, if you have to lodge a public complaint about poor service at a restaurant or report a case of unruly management by a service-provider, Twitter is the perfect platform to ensure that your grievances are noted and made up for. No other platform holds a greater power to publicly make or break the reputation of a company or individual, considering the near-limitless reach of the multi-billion dollar website and its even greater user-base.
Considering the fact that Twitter is such an important part of the digital world, affecting the principles of freedom of speech (to an extent) and open accessibility, we as its avid users should take a moment to laud the efforts of those working nocturnal hours to make the platform as radically successful as it is today.
Vijaya Gadde, General Counsel
Making us proud from across the seas, Indian-born Gadde has been an instrumental figure in keeping the company’s head above water in sticky situations. Key measures related to privacy, safety, and other policies are automatically placed under her radar, in addition to the decision-making for user-bans and legal response base. While Gadde prefers to rear back from the publicity she deserves, she couldn’t evade the press when her commendable performance in leading a 90-member team to file lawsuits in local courts against the Twitter-ban in Turkey (2011) came to the notice of its global users. Gadde is a noted alumnus of New York University and an active member of the investor group #Angels, which consists of both former and current female Twitter executives.
Jack Dorsey, CEO
Dorsey’s claim to the throne since the very inception of Twitter has met its fair share of challenges in the form of both controversies and people. As one of the founders of the platform, Dorsey accumulated a team of the industry’s finest technicians, lawyers, marketers, and designers to tighten and round up the website, giving it a powerful yet simple persona, one that immediately attracts the attention of those seeking a voice online.
Ed Ho, General Manager of Consumer Product and Engineering
Ed Ho is one of Twitter’s greatest assets, considering his notable experience at digital powerhouses like Google, Yahoo, and IBM. Since he joined the company in 2014, he has witnessed a series of swift promotions, making him in charge of all factors related to the product and engineering department of the company, which has seen a positively marked change just in the past year.
Leslie Berland, CMO
Just as Twitter holds the key to a public make-or-break for its users, the company also has to work hard in order to maintain a positive reputation among the same. To this end, Leslie Berland’s job comes with its fair share of challenges, where she is required to convince people about the benefits of using a broad platform like Twitter as a choice over its competitors. Her addition to the core-team has definitely been a push behind a series of interesting ads that the company put out last year in light of the US Presidential Elections. Along with this, Berland also oversees the functions of Twitter’s communications team.
Matt Derella, VP of Global Revenue
Following the hasty departures of former Twitter executives Adam Bain (COO) and Rich Alfonsi (Sales VP) last year, the company began to panic about reaching the right numbers and revenue. At this time, Derella had been handling all of the company’s North American sales efforts and thus had a good vantage point in terms of experience, making him a natural contender for looking after the global sales functions of the company. Considering the fact that senior executives of the company were recently heard declaring their mission to ‘jumpstart’ the company in terms of numbers, resources, and revenue, Derella seems to have his work cut out for him, already.
Kayvon Beykpour, Product and Engineering Head of Livestream Video
The updated live streaming feature that Twitter offers you today is largely due to the contributions of Beykpour, the CEO and Co-founder of Periscope. When Twitter acquired Periscope in in 2015, the latter incorporated its technology into its now parent company.
Ross Hoffman, VP of Global Content Partnerships
Hoffman is in-charge of running the company’s media team, which includes procuring a fair share of sales deals as well. Having joined the company in 2010, Hoffman climbed up the hierarchical ladder at a fast pace, from holding post as Brand Strategist (2011) to Senior Director of Global Brand Strategy (2015) to Vice President of Global Content Partnerships today.
These individuals have combined brain power and have grouped and regrouped to make the Twitter experience both convenient and accessible to its users, enabling it to proclaim its unchallenged title as the King of public opinion in the world of social media.
