It's been almost six years since Twitter launched. In those six years, the company has grown rapidly. The number of people working for Twitter has surpassed 900 and the service boasts 140 million active users. One year ago, Twitter set up camp in London. Today, 12 months on, the company has revealed that 10 million people in the United Kingdom are on Twitter. The BBC reports that in the UK, 80 percent of active users access the site through their mobile. This is compared to 55 percent of users globally.
Today's talk of Twitter UK isn't just related to users, though. Tony Wang, General Manager of Twitter UK, also told the BBC that his company wants to work more closely with the UK government. Twitter has been at the forefront of a few very high-profile news stories over the last year. Last summer, 75,000 people on Twitter named Ryan Giggs as the professional footballer covered by an injunction that was supposed to protect his identity. Later that summer, protesters clashed with police, which culminated in a series of riots breaking out across England. Many people taking part in the riots used Twitter for communication.
Speaking about the riots and the Ryan Giggs case, Wang told the Beeb that they highlighted Twitter's need to treat international operations as such. "One of the things we've worked very hard on over the last years is making sure we have the operations as well as the resources to continue to build a business that's not just in the US but global," he said.
The company is actively looking to recruit a public policy manager. This new employee will work with the government, various ministries, members of Parliament and law enforcement, but it's unclear what their role will entail.
