Twitter CEO Predicts 2012 Will Be the Twitter Election

Posted 01/31/2012 at 8:26am | by Paul Lilly

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Love it or hate it, Twitter has become an influential medium capable of turning public opinion in the blink of an eye. It doesn't matter if you use the microblogging service or not, or if you despite all forms of social networking. There are plenty of people who do use Twitter, and their voices travel through the Internet in real-time. It's a powerful tool, but can it help determine the outcome of an election?

Twitter CEO Dick Costolo wholeheartedly believes it can.

"I really think 2012 is going to be the Twitter election," Costolo told All Things D during his talk at D:Dive Into Media.

To be clear, Costolo isn't suggesting Twitter will determine the next President of the United States, he's simply stating the obvious. Twitter's reach extends across the country and around the globe to millions of users, and things that are said end up in cyberspace in the blink of an eye.

Costolo offered up an example, saying Obama's spilled-milk comment during last week's State of the Union speech elicited instant groans and live-tweets from Republicans.

"Tomorrow morning it will be too late to react to what was said the day before," Costolo said. "Washington is really starting to realize that."