Will The Return Of Biz Stone Alleviate Fundamental Concerns At Twitter?

Biz is back, but his excitement to return to Twitter Inc TWTR, a company crippled by public criticism and metric declines, hasn’t exactly resonated with investors.

Although Biz Stone's Tuesday announcement initially prompted a 2-percent stock spike, shares ultimately closed down 6 percent on the day.

And the Street’s gut instincts are valid. Since fellow co-founder Jack Dorsey reclaimed his leadership in 2015, seven years after relinquishing his first gig as Twitter CEO, the company’s stock has fallen 48 percent.

Plagued by diminished ad revenue in spite of peaks in daily and monthly active users, Twitter remains unstable. In February when it posted a miss in fourth-quarter sales, technology expert Sean Udall said its survival now depends on fundamental platform changes.

A Stone Foundation

Stone might be the difference between life or death. After all, creativity is his specialty.

The trained designer has co-founded three ventures apart from Twitter, including his most recent project, Jelly Industries, Inc., which he sold to Pinterest in March. Before Twitter, Stone co-founded and served as chief creative officer for both Medium.com and The Obvious Corporation.

Building something from nothing is a critical startup skill, and it may stimulate the transformation Twitter needs. At least, that seems to be Dorsey’s hope. Stone’s new role is vaguely to invigorate the company with start-up energy.

PR Power

But he may also prove instrumental in addressing public relations concerns stunting Twitter’s popularity. Many users have criticized Dorsey’s responses to inflammatory speech and violations of public code on the site, and Stone at least verbally empathizes.

Good work, #FOFA. FYI, Constitutional Exceptions to Free Speech—Child Porn, Hate Speech, and more. Hate can't hide under the Constitution!

— Biz Stone (@biz) February 15, 2017

Stone could also revolutionize the company’s image by redefining Twitter’s success. A recent retweet laments that performance is measured by DAUs and revenue rather than community impact, and he has long lauded the platform for its role in diplomacy and democracy.

“As I truly believe, and as I’ve written before, the Tweets must flow,” Stone wrote in his return announcement. “Twitter has woven itself into the fabric of our global society. The world needs Twitter, and it’s here to stay. I’m so lucky that I get to step back in and help shape it’s [sic] future.”