Walking into the new Twitter Australia office in Sydney, a gold bird stares back at me, surrounding by hues of yellow and green. Not a blue in sight. It’s part of Twitter Australia’s attempt to blend itself further in the Aussie culture.
And while yes, the blue bird logo does make an appearance multiple times around the new office space, Karen Stocks, Twitter Australia’s managing director says they’ve really tried to give the office an Aussie feel.
Looking at the luxurious new office, you wouldn’t guess Twitter as a whole has had a rough trot recently. Just the other week four executives suddenly quit, with global CEO and co-founder Jack Dorsey saying they were all taking a well-deserved break.
And as Twitter’s shares have been dropping over the past few years, according to the American Stock Exchange NASDAQ, rumours have been flying about the internet in recent days suggesting a takeover is in the works. News Corp has already denied it’s planning on buying out the social media platform, however the latest rumour sees entrepreneur Mark Anderseen and private equity firm Silver Lake apparently looking set to make a deal.
Nevertheless, these are just rumours at the moment, and rumours which Stocks declined to comment on.
“Twitter’s a really, really popular company that’s integrated into the social society of everything that happens,” Stocks told B&T. “Nothing happens in this world without it being on Twitter, so there’s a lot of interest in the company.
“But we’ve got a very, very strong roadmap ahead. We’ve never been more excited about the promise of Twitter.
All I will say is, rumours are rumours.
And even with everything that’s happened in the States with the execs leaving, Stocks reckons people see the Twitter Australia team on a “growth” and “very strong”.
“We’re delivering a really good service to our advertisers and our partners and our customers out there,” she said. “I can’t talk about share prices, we’re in a quiet period…but every company goes through noise that happens in different places and it’s really important that we communicate, work really closely with the team and they continue to deliver on the excellent customer service they already do.”
In any case, Stocks and the 50 strong Twitter Australia team are pretty chuffed with the new office space, which is a stark difference to the veritable cubicle the founding five Twitter Aus team used to perch in.
It’ll mean being able to bring more clients and advertisers in to see the space and “live and breathe the Twitter culture”, explained Stocks.
Flexibility has been a critical part of the new office, with a secluded mother’s room for returning mums to work. Stocks noted they have their first woman coming back from maternity leave in a few short weeks so she’ll be able to let them know exactly what the mother’s room needs.
“We’ve got a highly diversified workplace and as everyone matures and people have babies, we want people to continually feel comfortable, regardless of where you are in life,” said Stocks.
And further committing to the Aussie culture, the team voted on creating a poignant display for Phil Hughes, the cricketer who tragically lost his life in 2014. The hashtag #Putoutyourbats was widely used around the Twittersphere to commemorate Hughes.
And while that hashtag was created for a sad and loving occasion, a similar term was also used when Tony Abbott was shafted from the Government #putoutyouronions and when former speaker Bronwyn Bishop was disgraced by spending tax payer dollars on taking a private helicopters #putyourwalletsout.
