Biz Stone, Twitter’s former evangelist-in-chief, who left the struggling social media company in 2011, is returning to the flock to aid CEO Jack Dorsey and guide the company culture.
SAN FRANCISCO — Twitter is getting back one of its true characters.
Biz Stone, Twitter’s evangelist-in-chief who left the company in 2011, is returning to the flock.
Stone, a Twitter co-founder who was largely responsible for tending Twitter’s culture, says he will now revive that role at a particularly rocky moment for the struggling social media company and its chief executive Jack Dorsey that has led to a string of executive and employee departures.
« My top focus will be to guide the company culture, that energy, that feeling, » Stone wrote in a Medium post. « This is where Jack, and Twitter’s inestimable CMO, Leslie Berland, feel I can have the most powerful impact. It’s important that everyone understands the whole story of Twitter and each of our roles in that story. I’ ll shape the experience internally so it’s also felt outside the company. More soon. »
Twitter declined to comment. Stone could not be reached for comment.
The job, whose description includes « being Biz Stone, » would seem tailor-made for Stone. Twitter co-founder Evan Williams commented to Stone: “Well, you’ re among the best in the world at being Biz Stone.”
For about six years, Stone could be counted on to effusively tell the Twitter story to celebrities, world leaders and pretty much anyone who would listen. He was instrumental in molding the company’s corporate culture that drew top recruits from Google, Facebook and YouTube.
He had a utopian vision of what Twitter could be inside and out, commenting shortly before leaving the company that « Twitter was built on the fundamental belief that people are good and that if you give them the tools, they will do good things. »
That hasn’t been the case in recent years as Twitter has been beset by an epidemic of hate speech and abuse that has driven users from the platform and contributed to pronounced stagnation in user growth. And the attention that its most controversial user, President Donald Trump, has brought to Twitter hasn’t always been positive.
Inside the company, morale has been hit hard by an ever-revolving door leadership, unclear and shifting strategy and heavy criticism from investors that has put pressure on management and the stock over the past three years.
Shares were up 1% on Tuesday, extending gains since Twitter’s last financial report showed a rebound in user growth that’s propelled shares 33% higher. They’re still off 73% from their 2014 high.
Stone shares with Dorsey an abiding passion for Twitter’s role in the world as a real-time sources of news and information.
« As I truly believe, and as I’ ve written before, the Tweets must flow. Twitter has woven itself into the fabric of our global society. The world needs Twitter, and it’s here to stay, » Stone said. « I’ m so lucky that I get to step back in and help shape its future. »
Stone will continue to work as an adviser to Pinterest co-founder and chief product officer Evan Sharp, Pinterest said. Pinterest bought Stone’s start-up earlier this year.
