Twitter's board of directors: Tweeters need not apply
Half of Twitter's board members don't appear to have much interest in tweeting themselves.
Marjorie Scardino is Twitter's newest board member, joining the male cast who helped guide the company through its successful IPO. The former CEO of Pearson has strong credentials in media, which is an area of major interest for Twitter. However, her media credentials don't include diving deep into the Twitter pool. It's a trait she shares with other outside members of the board.
While board members and Twitter insiders Jack Dorsey, Evan Williams, and Dick Costolo are busy tweeters, the others mostly sit more on the sidelines. Scardino wrote her first tweet today and follows only 15 people. As pointed out by qz.com, fellow board members Peter Chernin, Peter Currie, and David Rosenblatt have collectively authored fewer than 300 tweets to date. Perhaps they are more selective Twitter readers than sharers. Only board member Peter Fenton of Benchmark Capital has more than 1,000 tweets, which is about 13,000 fewer than Dorsey and 6,000 fewer than Williams and Costolo.
Like most boards, Twitter has a group of people who bring different perspectives, connections, and areas of expertise to the table. Dorsey, Williams, and Costolo more than make up for the deficit of the non-tweeting board members who don't want to eat the dog food. Perhaps it's a strategy to avoid too much of an echo chamber in the board room. Nonetheless, we'll expect more frequent tweeting and following from the newest board member.