Last week, rumors about Google or Facebook buying Twitter were swirling around the murky ether of the Internet. The rumor, originally reported by the Wall Street Journal, was rebuffed by Twitter CEO Dick Costolo at this week’s Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.
Well, the rumors about Google have been rebuffed, that is.
According to Reuters, when asked about the acquisition rumors regarding Google in a panel, Costolo said, “People write that stuff all the time. I don’t know where these things come from. It’s just a rumor.”
Interestingly, when Costolo was asked about a possible acquisition by Facebook he chose not to comment, revealing that there may indeed be something behind that rumor.
The last time Twitter talked acquisition; it had yet to bring in any real money from advertising or traffic. This time around, Twitter has monetized, but Costolo has yet to comment on how much Twitter is actually making.
“Every time I have an interview, I am asked when we’re going to make money. The short answer is we’re already making money.”
Facebook has been a heavy hitter at this year’s Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, with new phones from HTC and INQ Mobile offering easy access to FB with a dedicated button.
However, Costolo emphasized that Twitter will not be working on any Twitter-branded cell phones anytime in the near future.
MocoNews released a statistic that around 40 percent of all tweets originate from a cell phone, which could mean that somewhere down the line, a Twitter branded phone might become a possibility.
As far as the future goes, Costolo said Android phones that allow users to quickly send photos is a feature he wouldn’t mind seeing copied within other platforms. He added that he’d like to see more single sign-on experiences and apps which allow direct tweets.
Still, only time will tell if Facebook will buy Twitter, combining the two sites into one mega social networking machine. Of course, we still have our fingers crossed for a Twitter inspired phone.
(Via Digital Trends)
