Tweet this: Twitter gets new chief executive

SAN FRANCISCO: An unexpected executive appointment got the internet all atwitter Monday.
Evan Williams, co-founder of hit microblogging site Twitter, said he was stepping aside to concentrate on product strategy, while chief operating officer Dick Costollo, 47, would take the reigns of the company as it tries to monetize its huge internet following.

Williams announced the move on Twitter's blog, saying that the "challenges of growing an organization so quickly are numerous".

"During his year at Twitter, (Costello) has been a critical leader in devising and executing our revenue efforts, while simultaneously and effectively making the trains run on time in the office," Evans said.

The move comes just as Twitter is introducing a revamped design and new advertising initiatives aimed at attracting large companies to the site's 165 million users.

Costollo came to Twitter about a year ago after founding the news feed service FeedBurner, which was bought by Google in 2007. Williams took over as Twitter chief executive in 2008, when co-founder Jack Dorsey stepped aside to become Twitter chairman.

According to web tracking firm Comscore, Twitter is now the third most popular social networking site in the world behind Facebook and Windows Live Profile but ahead of MySpace.