If youa4��a4�re wondering what Twittera4��a4�s long-term prospects are, youa4��a4�re not alone &8212' when British newspaper The Guardian asked chief executive Dick Costolo about the companya4��a4�s long-term vision, he responded that hea4��a4�s currently trying to come up with a good answer:

I am working on clarity around that at the moment. I am currently trying to define what Twittera4��a4�s purpose is in the long term. We will be able to be more specific on that answer in the near future.

It may seem a little strange for a company fielding multibillion-dollar acquisition offers to be figuring out basic questions, but Twitter seems to have made a virtue of essentially flying by the seat of its pants. Twitter is one of the classic examples of how a technology can seem head-scratchingly frivolous (hence the constant a4��Awhy should I read about what someonea4��a4�s having for breakfasta4���-type questions) until people started using it in powerful and unforeseeable ways.

At the same time, the companya4��a4�s co-founder and former CEO Ev Williams recently said Twitter is currently a4��Ain a transition.a4��� When the service first took off, the team had to work so hard to build the infrastructure necessary to keep up with user growth that it didna4��a4�t have the time to improve the product or develop a real business model, Williams said. That changed this year, with the launch of advertising on Twitter, a revamp of the website, and, apparently, a discussion of where the company goes from here.

That transition is also reflected in a change at the top, with Costolo taking over as CEO last month. Ita4��a4�s interesting to see that Twitter co-founder and chairman Jack Dorsey is quoted in the Guardian article while Williams is not. Williams pushed Dorsey out of the CEO role in 2008, and while Dorsey is supposedly still focused on his mobile payments startup Square, there are rumors that hea4��a4�s getting more involved in Twitter too, at Costolo&'s request.

[Image via The Guardian]

Next Story: Report: Windows Mobile was for work, Windows Phone 7 is for fun Previous Story: First Windows Phone 7 jailbreak tool released

Print Email Twitter Facebook Google Buzz LinkedIn Digg StumbleUpon Reddit Delicious Google More&8230'

Companies: Twitter

People: Dick Costolo, Ev Williams, Jack Dorsey

Companies: Twitter

People: Dick Costolo, Ev Williams, Jack Dorsey

Anthony is VentureBeat's assistant editor, as well as its reporter on media, advertising, and social networks. Before joining VentureBeat in 2008, Anthony worked at the Hollister Free Lance, where he won awards from the California Newspaper Publishers Association for breaking news coverage and writing. He attended Stanford University and now lives in San Francisco. Reach him at anthony@venturebeat.com. (All story pitches should also be sent to tips@venturebeat.com) You can also follow Anthony on Twitter.

VentureBeat has new weekly email newsletters. Stay on top of the news, and don't miss a beat.