Twitter CEO Dick Costolo: TV deals, better UX will ensure growth

So much for taking a bit of time out to celebrate. Hours after Twitter’s very successful debut on the New York Stock Exchange, CEO Dick Costolo was giving an interview to CBS explaining what the company’s strategy for growth is.

More specifically, it seems, Costolo realises that the company needs to expand its US user base. As Forbes notes, growth in its home country has been a little stagnant of late. That’s especially worrying when you bear in mind that it’s where the majority of Twitter’s ad income comes from.

Key to achieving this, Costolo told CBS, is making the Twitter experience easier for new users and further entrenching the company’s ties with the TV industry.

Speaking about the first of these, Costolo said that one big thing the company needs to work on demystifying the language around Twitter. “That language and scaffolding can be confusing and opaque,” he told CBS. If the social network’s going to resolve the issue of people logging in, panicking and never coming back again, then it needs to make sure that using it is as “clear and simple” as possible.

On the deepening integration with TV networks, Costolo reckons that Twitter needs encourage networks, as well as show producers and writers to engage more with people on Twitter. The idea, it seems, is that Twitter will become the default “second-screen” for TV watchers. It’s done a lot of work towards achieving that in recent times, but it isn’t the only player competing for the attention of TV watchers. Facebook also recently inked a whole heap of international TV partnerships as tries to stay relevant and keep revenue growing.

Investors meanwhile will most likely be pleased to know that Costolo isn’t bent on sacrificing profit for the sake of growth. He actually seems pretty keen to take Twitter out of its so-called investment phase (which has seen it pretty much continuously losing money). “There is nothing structural about our business that prevents us from achieving the kinds of margins of other companies in our peer group,” he said.