Jack Dorsey, the man (and mind) behind Twitter
SAN FRANCISCO — Jack is back, and Twitter may never be the same.
At least that's the hope among many inside and out the popular microblogging service, which has been in a tailspin the past year.
Co-founder Jack Dorsey's return as CEO might salve some of the problems gripping Twitter: A static product, voracious competition for ads from Facebook and Google, and a sinking stock.
The St. Louis, Mo., native, after all, is the mastermind behind the notepad sketch in 2000 that inspired Twitter. "My whole philosophy is making tech more accessible and human," he told USA TODAY in 2009.
In many ways, the boyish-looking Dorsey always captured the spirit and look of Twitter. He bears a forearm-length tattoo that he says represents an F-sharp, an integral symbol for mathematics, and a human clavicle — the only bone, he says, with "free range of motion."
Twitter names co-founder Jack Dorsey as permanent CEO
Yet one of Silicon Valley's brightest stars says he believes the future is all about the past.
"Consider history," Dorsey, in his soft-spoken, low-key manner told USA TODAY in a 2012 interview. "Every technology was invented for one purpose: Enable humans to take actions faster."
Motioning toward a photo of the Golden Gate Bridge, and invoking the power of plumbing in the world-domination plans of the Roman Empire, the 38-year-old Dorsey says water-supply systems played a pivotal role in letting Julius Caesar and others expand their empire.
About the only thing that can blunt tech's influence is distrust in its mind-shifting change. That is anathema to Old World, empire-building thinking — particularly in industries where change in infrastructure and the use of tech is pricey, Dorsey says.
Creator of Twitter sees blur of change
Silicon Valley golden boy Dorsey, however, is portrayed as a tarnished figure, guilty of hubris and Machiavellian impulses in New York Times columnist Nick Bilton's book on the company, Hatching Twitter: A True Story of Money, Power, Friendship, and Betrayal. Known as "Jack" in the Valley, he is an ambitious sort who patterns himself after Steve Jobs, down to his fascination with The Beatles, according to the book.
In his zeal to emulate Jobs, however, Dorsey evidently picked up his worst habits. This includes, Bilton asserts, Dorsey's insistence that he alone created Twitter. (The product arose from a failed podcasting enterprise called Odeo.)
Twitter has millions tweeting in public communication service - USATODAY.com
Dorsey's return as full-time CEO is the latest chapter in the Byzantine-like intrigue, character clashes and broken dreams that bookmark Twitter's colorful narrative.
It was hard at times to keep track of who's in and who's out, according to Bilton's book. Dorsey had the CEO's job — until he didn't. Co-founder Evan Williams, who financed Twitter with the millions he made from selling Blogger to Google, took the helm, but then was later jettisoned as CEO. Dick Costolo joined as COO, took the CEO's spot from Ev Williams, then left this July after a turbulent stretch.
It's all hard to fathom, especially given Dorsey's unassuming, attentive nature during interviews.
Dorsey, a computer programmer whose obsessive nature has made him a fan of punk music, surrealism and St. Louis, considers Twitter a "status updater, a way to say where he was and what he was doing. A place to display yourself, your ego."
"I'm a very low-level programmer," Dorsey said in the 2009 interview. "This idea of a short, inconsequential burst of activity (Twitter) turned out pretty well."
Follow USA TODAY San Francisco Bureau Chief Jon Swartz on Twitter: @jswartz.