Twitter hires ex-Google exec as COO

Twitter has appointed former Google executive Dick Costolo as its new chief operating officer – the second ex-Google employee to join the microblogging site in the last two months.

According to the New York Times, Costolo will take up his new position next week. “He’s a long time friend of [Twitter founders Evan Williams and Biz Stone], so clearly they trust and respect the work that he’s done and look forward to working with him here at Twitter,” said Jenna Sampson, a Twitter spokeswoman.

Costolo, one of the co-founders of FeedBurner, joined Google after it acquired the RSS manager for a reported $100 million in 2007 and left this summer. Similarly, Williams and Stone sold their blogging site, Blogger, to Google.

Twitter, which has around 60 employees, has reportedly discussed plans to hire large numbers of staff to keep up with its growth. In July the company hired Google’s senior product and intellectual property counsel, Alexander Macgillivray, as its general counsel.