FeedBurner Founder Joins Twitter as COO

If there wasn't enough “RSS is dead” propaganda, this piece of news is sure to provide even more fuel to the growing mob proclaiming the protocol's demise. Co-founder and CEO of the feed service FeedBurner and later Google Executive Dick Costolo is leaving RSS behind for good. And the best part is where he's headed. Having left Google in July, Costolo will start next week as Twitter's chief operating officer, as TechCrunch has reported and Twitter has later confirmed.

“He’s a longtime friend of Ev and Biz, so clearly they trust and respect the work that he’s done and look forward to working with him here at Twitter HQ,” Jenna Sampson, a Twitter spokeswoman, said in reference to Twitter's Co-founders Evan Williams and Biz Stone.

Costolo launched FeedBurner in 2004 as a way for bloggers and website owners to set up their own RSS feeds. It quickly became a very popular product and was eventually bought by Google for $100 million in 2007 with the, then, CEO staying on with Google. He finally left the search giant in July, with apparent plans to start another company. But, now, it looks like Twitter has made a compelling offer and has managed to convince him to join the company.

The parallel between Costolo's path and the ones of Twitter's founders is remarkable, as both Williams and Stone worked for Google at some point after selling Blogger, their blogging service startup, to the web company. Costolo is also an early investor in Twitter.

The new addition is hoped to strengthen Twitter's engineering efforts, which have consistently been the platform's weak spot. Despite the massive growth the microblogging site enjoyed this year, the site still has regular maintenance downtimes and is lacking in new features. Twitter has also been looking to expand its team, which currently numbers around 60 people, to match its exponential growth.