Evan Williams Steps Down as Twitter's CEO

By Abby Draper

It’s been a newsworthy couple of weeks in the rapidly paced world of Social Media.

As some of you read last week, Mark Zuckerberg founder of Facebook.com donated $100 million to the Newark School systems; “Social Network” was released and hugely successful in its debut weekend; and today Twitter co-founder Evan Williams announced that he is turning his CEO title over to “focus on product strategy.”

In an unexpected announcement on the Twitter blog, Williams revealed that he has stepped down and asked Twitter COO Dick Costolo to take over as the company’s CEO.

In his blog, Williams writes:

“The challenges of growing an organization so quickly are numerous. Growing big is not success, in itself. Success to us means meeting our potential as a profitable company that can retain its culture and user focus while having a positive impact on the world. This is no small task. I frequently reflect on the type of focus that is required from everyone at Twitter to get us there.

This led to a realization as we launched the new Twitter. I am most satisfied while pushing product direction. Building things is my passion, and I’ve never been more excited or optimistic about what we have to build.

This is why I have decided to ask our COO, Dick Costolo, to become Twitter’s CEO. Starting today, I’ll be completely focused on product strategy.”

With the recent roll out of New Twitter, now seems like the perfect timing for Costolo to take over. I look forward to seeing where Twitter is headed.

Abby Draper is the Manager of Social Media. Contact her at abby@maroonpr.com.

100 Million Reasons to Like Mark Zuckerberg

By Pete Deluca

Last week, Mark Zuckerberg, the founder and CEO of the social networking site Facebook.com, sat down with New Jersey Governor Chris Christie and Newark Mayor Cory Booker on the Oprah Winfrey Show to announce his plans to donate $100 million dollars to the Newark Public School System.

The grant is welcome news to residents of Newark, who saw control of their failing school system turned over to the state of New Jersey a decade ago. Still, under the new regime, nearly 46 percent of the district’s 40,000 students failed to graduate from high school and less than half of elementary school students read and write at the appropriate grade level.

News of Zuckerberg’s donation spread quickly. In researching this topic, I expected to see thousands of articles praising this recording-breaking donation. Instead, I found story after story criticizing the move as a publicity stunt on the heels of the release of The Social Network – a film due out Friday that portrays Zuckerberg as a self-centered egomaniac who rips off his friends to create Facebook.

Either way you look at this situation, a donation of this size has the potential to dramatically change one of America’s most notoriously dangerous cities. One million dollars would have been more than enough to help teachers city-wide simply buy supplies. Five million dollars would be enough to provide new computers, after school programs, or safer transportation. Fifty million dollars would be ground breaking – allowing the city to build dozens of new schools. But a $100 million-dollar donation is unheard of. Publicity stunt or not, Zuckerberg’s grant is an amount that will change the lives of individuals for generations.

In addition to The Social Network, there is another movie in theatres on Friday entitled Waiting for Superman This documentary describes the hardships of the American public school system - the struggles teachers face every day, the poor level of education children are receiving, and how the system, which was once the best in the world, is now failing our students. The title hints to the overall plot of the film – the school system needs something, or someone, to save it.

Regardless of Zuckerberg’s motivation, Newark, New Jersey found their Superman.

Pete Deluca is an Associate Account Executive. Contact him at pete@maroonpr.com.