Google’s Costolo Becomes Twitter COO

Dick Costolo, once CEO of Feedburner before Internet giant Google acquired the blog feed tracker, was picked as Twitter’s Chief Operating Officer. The move has stirred speculation Twitter may be preparing for a buyout offer from Mountain View.

“If I’m Twitter and I want to be acquired by Google, why not hire someone who built a similar company which was also acquired by Google (a bit too soon in my opinion),” writes Loren Baker , Search Engine Watch editor.

There may be other reasons for the move, such as previous financial ties.

“This is the old gang reuniting,” writes Staci Kramer, co-editor of PaidContent.org. Costolo invested in Twitter in 2007. Union Square Ventures, another Twitter backer, also financially supported Feedburner.

Baker in a post entitled “Twitter is the New RSS”, believes Costolo would provide the tools Twitter needs to offer something akin to Google Analytics for companies tracking the effectiveness of their micro-blogging campaigns.

[Via Search Engine Watch and PaidContent]