Skip to main content

Twitter Buys Posterous

My head is all  atwitter today with the news that Twitter, a micro-blogging platform, just bought Posterous. Posterous is one of the lesser known blogging platforms, but it has a solid and growing userbase. I’m still thinking about what this means but the first thing I can tell you is that Twitter  may have decided that 140 characters wasn’t enough.

I’m not being flippant here; Twitter is a platform that is defined by that arbitrary limit; it’s kept tweets succinct and of the moment. But it’s also limited our ability to share anything but the most basic ideas. Complex thoughts, rambling sentences, and most subtlety has to be edited out of a tweet.

I don’t know where Twitter will take this, but I’m hoping they’ll lengthen tweets without losing the conversational nature of Twitter. Perhaps Twitter is going to become a blogging platform in truth, and not just in name.

There’s no word yet on the terms of the sale or what the companies will do in the future.

Here’s Twitter’s statement:

Today we are welcoming a very talented group from Posterous to Twitter. This team has built an innovative product that makes sharing across the web and mobile devices simple—a goal we share. Posterous engineers, product managers and others will join our teams working on several key initiatives that will make Twitter even better.

Posterous Spaces will remain up and running without disruption. We’ll give users ample notice if we make any changes to the service. For users who would like to back up their content or move to another service, we’ll share clear instructions for doing so in the coming weeks.

We’re always looking for talented people who have the passion and personality to join Twitter. Acquisitions have given us people and technology that have enabled us to more quickly build a better Twitter for you.

Here’s Posterous’ statement:

The opportunities in front of Twitter are exciting, and we couldn’t be happier about bringing our team’s expertise to a product that reaches hundreds of millions of users around the globe. Plus, the people at Twitter are genuinely nice folks who share our vision for making sharing simpler.

Posterous Spaces will remain up and running without disruption. We’ll give users ample notice if we make any changes to the service. For users who would like to back up their content or move to another service, we’ll share clear instructions for doing so in the coming weeks.

You can find more information answers to other questions you may have here.

Finally, we’d like to offer thanks to all of our users, especially those who have been with Posterous since day one. The last four years have been an amazing journey. Your encouragement, praise and criticism have made us better. Thanks for that. We look forward to building great things for you over at Twitter.

 

Similar Articles


Comments


pf March 13, 2012 um 6:38 am

Backup your Posterous Spaces NOW – if you have a Mac!


Write a Comment