Google in talks to buy Twitter? Reports conflict

Updated at 6:32 a.m. PDT Friday with All Things D's denial and Google's no-comment, at 7:10 a.m. PDT with further TechCrunch information, and 9:10 a.m. with Twitter comment.

Google is in "late stage" talks to acquire microblogging service Twitter, according to a report on Thursday on TechCrunch citing two unnamed sources.

All Things Digital's Kara Swisher, however, on Friday said the report isn't true, also citing unnamed sources and saying the companies have only been in product-related discussions. And a TechCrunch update backpedaled a bit, citing another source who said acquisition talks were at a "fairly early stage."

Google declined to comment, but Twitter co-founder Biz Stone posted a statement on his blog Friday that neither confirmed the talks nor ruled them out.

"It should come as no surprise that Twitter engages in discussions with other companies regularly and on a variety of subjects," Stone said. "Our goal is to build a profitable, independent company and we're just getting started." The 30-employee company is hiring, he added.

Twitter lets people post short, 140-character messages; people often subscribe to follow the stream of these tweets from acquaintances and, increasingly, companies and celebrities. After an unpleasant rocky period in which the company's servers frequently were crushed under the strain of the service, Twitter has experienced tremendous growth.

Google's origins, core technology, and profits come from search, but Twitter would fit in neatly with the company's somewhat lackluster attempt to become more of a social hub too. Facebook, which attempted to acquire Twitter in 2008, is the exemplar of just how rich a medium the Internet can become for social interactions. Social sites, though, have had a hard time showing they can mean revenue and profits as well.

Twitter isn't just about sharing with friends, though. It's increasingly about search as well. Twitter has been working to elevate the prominence of search, which can give a near-real-time window into what's on the mind of innumerable users.

And Google knows well how to treat new sources of information as signals that weigh into search results. The company has been gradually blending into its search results data from sources such as blogs and news stories that reflect new information arriving on the Web.

Plenty of people search for relatively timeless information, but plane crashes, earthquakes, election results, and other events are popular search subjects, too, and Google constantly strives to better match its results with what people are actually seeking.

[AndrewRich]

Oh there's a big surprise! I think I'm going to have a heart attack and die of not surprise.

[OmniDragon]

lmao Aladin

[20Graphics]

www.MichaelJackson.com.bz
For Sale

[SactoGuy018]

Given how potentially a Twitter client on a smartphone with the Google "Android" software could be a very good idea, small wonder why Google mibht be interested in buying Twitter.

[dh42891]

Buy Twitter so they can build an Android client? Not likely. They can do that without owning it; they want insider access for search and ads. Same thing they always want. On the bright side, maybe it will cure the recession!

[dcmichie]

About time i say! Twitter needed someone big to buy them. Now twitter will be faster and more features will come when Google puts teams, not a group, teams of people to work on Twitter. So i think it'll go for at least $1.2 billion

[indiemixer]

Yeah, but the features won't be all that great. All the fun was sucked out of YouTube and now all they care about is money.

[kieranmullen]

indiemixer - Fun? How about reality check? It takes money to run these businesses.


[CNET editors' note: Prohibited content deleted.]

[indiemixer]

@kieranmullen; I'm not talking about how the business was run. I'm talking about the user experience. When Google bought YouTube it was like it ripped it's heart out and put in a quad processor. It might run better, but the happiness is gone.

[OmniDragon]

@indiemixer Exactly. Now, we'll get to see lovely ads all over Twitter once again ruining the experience. Thanks, but not hanks. Go back to where you came from, Google.

[Cheese McBeese]

Gawd, twitter is useless. The more twitter grows, the more annoying and spam-like it becomes. Kind of like Google, actually. Twitter has already jumped the shark. If Google acquires twitter, that will be Googles 'jump the shark' moment because it will signify that Google is chasing yesterday's innovations.

[dh42891]

Only useless if you don't know how to use it!

[bhushan bhaagii]

I received an invite (now, so late? "Yeah") to join twitter from a group member. The chap who sent me the invite
obviously has a lot of time on his hands. His twitter log contained minute-by-minute trivial posts, which turned me
off. The thought of being inundated with this mountain of trivia is difficult to handle. I turned the invitation down.

[ChrisLang]

When you know how to use Twitter it is the greatest viral marketing engine on the planet second only to Google Friend Connect. But then again no one know how to use Google Friend Connect.

I have well over 1000 contacts and sold lots of product this week with both Twitter and GFC. I bet you don't get text messaging do you. Or just maybe started using it lately. I bet you still leave voicemails don't you......

[Cheese McBeese]

Chris Lang, I'm glad you like twitter for selling things. Fair enough, but that doesn't mean the service is good, it just means that guys like you can use it to transmit spam. No thanks, that's even worse than the regular garbage that flows freely over twitter. If I were following you on twitter and you started trying to sell stuff, that would be the end of our connection. As I said before, the more twitter grows, the more the message flow will become congested with useless noise (and spam), killing any truly useful features it may have. Btw, I invented texting and IM, right after I invented the Internet. I bet you think the Jonas Brothers are a great rock band.

[egockel70]

boy, I bet Doug Bowman's pissed.

[lonestarState]

Twit Twit, I just fell of the nest and need a home. I guess Google can feed me now! Was starving up on the nest.

[SDtechy]

Google is doing this out of spite... so they can fire Douglas Bowman :p

[nSeika]

Didn't they have a microblogging service too some time ago ? Jaiku or something.
So now they want to buy away their competitor ?

... ah, not really, they let go of their service earlier to the volunteers.

[Pedram_K]

I wonder if they would leave the service as is or try to integrate it into their other systems. You have to figure Google has a bunch of teams working in this space and this could be pretty ugly.

[kgsbca]

the CEO of twitter recently said they will have a revenue model this year, I guess this is it - have their PR firm "leak" unfounded rumors to friendly writers so that some other company who may have expressed passing interest in twitter (or somebody big like microsoft) gets nervous and decides to buy it quickly. I hope google is not stupid enough to buy this company, what are they going to do, append 10 character ads to each message?

[CTO_Dude]

I'm starting to think that Google is a cover for the CIA and NSA. Could they have access to any more of our brains? I'm not sure.

[cpeterka]

Reminds me ot TPC in the President's Analyst with James Coburn.
They will take our and become BIGGEST BROTHER.

Definately.

[shanedr]

Sounds like as bad a decision as when HP bought Compaq.

[abcd9009]

I think Google buying Twitter makes more sense than Google buying YouTube where they still don't have a business model to monetize. With Twitter it's basically what Google does best - search.

[cpeterka]

They should forget TWITTER and go for FACEBOOK.
JMHO.

[Vegaman_Dan]

I think it's too late to buy Twitter. It has grown to become a beast of its own and now that entertainment stars and news services are going to it, it has grown overloaded and top heavy. I expect it to fall at some point.

Google buying it now might be just the thing tip it over.

[Maarek Stele]

Old news, they didn't want it.

[sanjayb]

I could see Google somehow merging both Google Talk (or is it Chat??) and Twitter into it's Gmail service making an all in one communications client. You can email, Twitter or chat all with one client.

Just a thought.

[vipvoy]

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