Twitter Tries Out A New Definition For Twitter

When Twitter filed for its initial public stock offering last year, it clumsily described itself as a "global platform for public self-expression and conversation in real time." This tagline was used by approximately no one.

As Twitter faces investor pressure to show its can attract more mainstream members, the social network has come up with a new definition of what Twitter does.

"We think of Twitter as a companion experience to what's happening in your world," Twitter chief executive Dick Costolo said on the company's earnings call Tuesday. Costolo repeated the line several times during the question and answer session with investors and analysts, while also asserting that Twitter, which has about a fifth as many active users as Facebook, is "incredibly mainstream."

Twitter no doubt hopes the new "companion experience" nomenclature will prove a friendlier, more memorable mantra that convinces holdouts to get Twitter handles of their own. The catchphrase is a kind of catchall that attempts to cover the many possible uses for Twitter, ranging from sourcing stories and getting news to catching celebrity gossip and talking about TV shows.

- huffingtonpost.com