Twitter product chief jilted, will now oversee strategic initiatives

Twitter product chief jilted, will now oversee strategic initiatives

Twitter has sidelined the product chief it recently poached from rival Google, in the latest executive reshuffle at the online messaging service, according to a source familiar with the situation.

Former consumer product chief Daniel Graf will now oversee strategic initiatives such as geo-location mobile features, the person said on condition of anonymity because the move was not public.

Kevin Weil, who was head of revenue-generating products, will now take charge of all products at the company, the person said.

On Monday, Twitter reported a decline in user engagement in the third quarter and forecast disappointing revenue.

Twitter has historically kept two product teams working side-by-side. One focuses on revenue products such as commerce and video services, the other on consumer services, which included work on the main timeline feed.

Twitter has experienced several high-profile departures in recent months, including former Chief Operating Officer Ali Rowghani and head of Twitter news efforts Vivian Schiller. The company has been struggling with user growth and engagement, amid criticism of a steep learning curve for new users that may be discouraging its wider adoption.

Two days ago, Twitter posted a disappointing 7 percent slide in a closely watched measure of engagement even though its user base grew 23 percent in the third quarter, triggering a more than 9 percent decline in its stock earlier this week. The company reported monthly active users, an important metric scrutinized by investors who worry that Twitter’s growth has peaked, rose 23 percent to 284 million in the quarter. That was down slightly from 24 percent in the previous three months.

With inputs from Reuters