Snoop Dogg wants to lead Twitter

Social media users seem to be backing Snoop Dogg's suggestion on Twitter that he should become the new Twitter chief executive officer (CEO). Current CEO Dick Costolo is standing down shortly, with their co-founder, Jack Dorsey expected to step in as the interim chief executive. The famous rapper has made his interest clear, with plenty of support being thrown behind his idea from the very tweeters that the online social networking service caters for.

Rapid departure

Costolo's sudden departure has certainly created plenty of ripples within the organisation, with his exit currently scheduled for July 1^st.

With its base in San Francisco and over twenty-five offices around the world, Twitter is an organisation that is going places fast, since its foundation in 2006.

Last year was not an especially promising one for the company though, as although they took in $1.4 billion, they posted a loss of $578 million. The share price has been hit by the disappointing recent results.

Co-founders

Dorsey was one of the four co-founders, in addition to Evan Williams, Biz Stone and Noah Glass, so from a continuity point of view would seem a sensible choice at least in the interim. The company then seem likely to be seeking a more permanent appointment going forward, once they have had time to assess the potential candidates for the post.

CEO role

Snoop Dogg would certainly be an interesting choice for the position. With the CEO typically reporting to a board of directors and generally having the overall objective to maximise the company's value, it would be interesting to see how he would handle the role. With over 500 million users of Twitter, as of May this year, it would certainly be no small undertaking.

Costolo's rise 

Fifty-one-year-old Costolo became Twitter's CEO in 2010, meriting his promotion after previously holding the position of Chief Operating Officer (COO). He took over as CEO from Williams and developed into one of America's most powerful CEOs, with TIME Magazine naming him as one of the ten Most Influential U.S.

Tech CEOs in 2013. His role as CEO was also supposed to be temporary at the outset, but became a permanent position in due course.

Became disillusioned

He seemed to become disillusioned with the company in recent times though, as a leaked internal Twitter memo that is believed to have been sent by him highlighted. The memo pulled no punches as it related to Twitter's handling of the ongoing issues of trolling and abuse, suggesting that Twitter had "sucked at it for years". He believed that users had gone elsewhere as a result.

Snoop's qualifications

Mr Dogg, real name Calvin Cordozar Broadus Jr, may be a long shot to take over but the rapper and actor knows a thing or two about making money, having sold more than 35 million albums worldwide.

He is also no stranger to the role of chairman within a major company, having been hired by EMI in 2009 for that role at Priority Records, an American record label specialising in hip hop music (Snoop's forte). Other hip hop artists have also succeeded in business before, including Dr Dre and Will.i.am.

Prominent executives, including Box CEO Aaron Levie, have tweeted their endorsement for at least finding a role for his talents within the organisation.

The last word