This week saw US technology blog All Things Digital interview Twitter CEO Dick Costolo. In this video, the chief of the micro-blogging site talks candidly on the recent spat with Google over social search, its role in the upcoming US election, potential IPOs and its controversial new country-specific filtering tools.
The core of the interview focused on Twitter’s evolution as a business and its relationship with media companies, who use the service to promote their products.
In the interview with All Things D, Costolo said that advertising will be Twitter’s core revenue driver, but he disagreed with my assessment: “We’re in the media business, but we’re not necessarily a media company,” he said. It wasn’t the only time Costolo disagreed with something I said that night:
He also looked at Twitter’s role in the 2012 election. “I really think 2012 is going to be the Twitter election,” he said.
“Candidates that don’t participate on Twitter while the conversation is happening will be left behind,” Costolo said. “Tomorrow morning will be too late to react to what was said the day before.”
Meanwhile, he added that it will be “fascinating” to see if Facebook files papers for an initial public offering this week, as it is expected to do, but Twitter is focusing on its own goals, not what its rival is doing.
“We are going to be really patient about the way we build the business,” he said. “We are trying to build a decades-long, lasting business.”
Costolo hinted that Twitter will also likely need to go public at some point, but said he is not worrying about that right now. Asked directly whether there is going to be an IPO for Twitter in the future, Costolo went quiet for several seconds before saying “I choose not to answer that question.”
View the interview in full below:
