Just two days after four VPs left Twitter, the company has hired a new chief marketing officer. Recode reports that it's American Express executive Leslie Berland who got the job, and it's not a huge surprise - she was a frontrunner for the position. As is fitting, the news came from CEO Jack Dorsey in a tweet:
Welcoming @leslieberland to Twitter! She will join as our CMO to help tell the stories of our iconic product!
--- Jack (@jack) January 26, 2016
Before joining Twitter, Berland was VP of global advertising, marketing and digital partnerships at American Express. Now she has to build Twitter's brand which sounds terrifying to this writer. Twitter is widely used and known, but it has issues. Namely, Recode points out, it has problems attracting new users and getting people who've tried it and hated it to try again. Remember when Twitter launched Moments last fall, as a way of attracting new users? That alone didn't solve much. And now it's Berland's turn to try something new.
To say that 2015 was a tumultuous year at Twitter would be putting it mildly. From changes in leadership when Jack Dorsey became CEO (after serving as the interim chief) and tumbling share prices, to smaller changes such as removing the direct message character count, Twitter just couldn't seem to get it together. There were many times when Twitter probably just wanted to hide in bed under the covers and eat ice cream. This year is still fresh and maybe Berland is the person Twitter needs to get some positive momentum going. Maybe now she'll add a Twitter header photo. We'll see.