February 15th, 2011 by John

If you’ve kept your ear to the ground over the past week or so, then you’ll know that rumours of either Google or Facebook buying Twitter have reached fever pitch. But while reports are emerging saying initial negotiations have been held and that waters are being tested, Twitter chief executive, Dick Costolo, has recently said that that’s all they are at the moment – rumours.

Mr. Costolo was speaking in Barcelona at the Mobile World Congress. He said, “”People write that stuff all the time… I don’t know where these things come from, it’s just a rumour.” What’s telling is that there were no denials or aggressive dismissals. With Twitter thought to be making losses because of staff additions and purchasing new data centres, Dick also suggested that the microblogging kings are looking at new ways of generating revenue, though there were no indications of what those methods may be.

Also, to provide an insight into just why Twitter is being valued at upwards of $10 billion, Dick also highlighted statistics collected during this year’s Superbowl. “At the end of this year’s Superbowl we saw 4,000 tweets per second. During the game there were sustained periods when it was 3,000 tweets per second. Just to give you some contrast, during the 2008 Superbowl we served 28 tweets per second.”

We can’t help but wonder what the implications would be if Google purchased Twitter and what it’d mean for SEO. It’d be a large social statement of intent from the search giants, and show they’re serious about moving into such a lucrative field. Facebook and Twitter together, though? What a social hub that would be!

From what Dick says, though, it doesn’t look to be happening anytime soon. But we’ve heard coy business denials before. Can Twitter really stand on its own two feet from a financial point of view? The next few months will be very telling indeed…

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