Twitter Hiring Push Focuses On Security And Products

Reflecting the increasing commercial bent of Twitter, the micro-blogging website announced a drive to hire 27 IT professionals in order to create new products, as well as improve security.

The increase in headcount for Twitter is a significant move for what is in reality a small organisation, with around 120 staff.

The hiring push at Twitter has revealed that four of the positions being advertised include the word “monetization.” It is thought that those jobs would involve working on new revenue-generating projects.

“Twitter is looking for new members of our technical staff to work on cutting edge monetization projects. You will work in small teams, own the projects that you work on, and will have direct input into the business decisions of the company,” read one position being advertised.

Other positions include a number of software engineers for front-end systems, internal systems, as well as monetization infrastructure. The company is also looking for an anti-spam engineer, and a network and infrastructure security manager.

While Twitter is hugely popular, many market analysts have been concerned about its lack of profitability, considering the amount of funding the company has received over the years. In September Twitter reportedly banked $100 million (£62 million) in funding, which valued the company at $1 billion (£622 million).

But in late December a Bloomberg BusinessWeek article reported that Twitter had reached an important commercial milestone after it reached profitability, thanks to a deal worth $25 million (£15.5 million) to let Google and Microsoft index its tweets.

Last year was a busy one for Twitter in terms of innovation. The company added Twitter Lists to let users curate content and created a Geolocation API to help boost the platform’s relevance.

In late December it also announced it would buy Mixer Labs, a geolocation web service company, and said that it plans to add features to the microblogging app which will link tweets to a user’s location.