Dive Brief:
- Twitter recently acquired Yes Inc., which makes social apps, and its CEO Keith Coleman has been named VP of Product for the social media platform according to Variety. Yes will be shutting apps like Frenzy and WYD.
- In other Twitter news, Rich Alfonsi, its ad sales leader for all accounts below the largest brand advertisers, is leaving the company for payments company Stripe as reported by Recode.
- Both moves come weeks after longtime Twitter employee and COO Adam Bain announced he was leaving the company. The VP of product role had been empty since January.
Dive Insight:
This has been a rough year for Twitter. Snapchat blew past the social media platform in user base and siphoned off significant ad dollars as well. The micro-blogging platform had a rocky relationship with its investors and negative prospects from Wall Street analysts that are ongoing, and it went through a short-lived and very tumultuous few weeks that almost saw the company sold only to have all of its major tech firm suitors drop out over the course of a few days.
As a social media platform, Twitter remains very popular among its core users, but as a business venture, it is stumbling. Turnover at the top is not going to help settle any questions for investors or analysts.
While there is an audience to be found, marketers will keep including Twitter in social media strategies but the platform might not be given a priority in planning that it once had. Brands are still gravitating to Twitter for its real-time relevancy and close ties with entertainment companies.