Twitter not reacting to Facebook/Instagram acquisition
Twitter’s CEO told reporters on Monday (16 April 2012) that Facebook’s acquisition of Instagram would not affect his company’s strategy – this after reports circulated stating the social network had itself set its sights on Instagram.
In an article posted by the New York Times, it was reported that Twitter had expressed interest in acquiring Instagram a few months ahead of Facebook’s acquisition deal.
Twitter’s co-founder and executive chairman, Jack Dorsey, was an investor in the company during it early days, and was reportedly an avid user of the service.
Instagram had previously rebuked any and all attempts at being acquired by companies, seemingly intent on moving forward as an independant company – until Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg approached the company with a $1 billion offer in cash and Facebook stocks, that is.
Not affecting Twitter’s strategy
Reacting to the acquisition, Twitter’s CEO, Dick Costolo, said that the purchase would not push the company to look at acquisitions to simply counter Facebook’s move, reported the Wall Street Journal.
“I think that sometimes there is a tendency for companies to react to events in the marketplace that are inconsistent with their strategy…and I think that tendency is a mistake,” Costolo told reporters.
He cited the rush to buy video-sharing sites after Google bought YouTube in 2006, and how those ventures never led to much success.
“History would say it’s not a good idea,” he continued, “We will make sure that we execute on the strategy that we have – and not one that’s been laid down for us based on events that happen in the marketplace,” he added.
A part of the company’s strategy is to focus on evolving Twitter’s application programming interface (API) to allow companies to build products into the social network.
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