• New York Times et al, Tuesday, October 5, 2010 11:56 AM

Citing his desire to focus on "product strategy," Twitter CEO Evan Williams on Monday said he was handing the company's reins to COO Dick Costolo. But, what does the move really mean for Williams and the top micro-blogger service?

In so many words, Fred Wilson, a partner at Union Square Ventures who is on Twitter's board, said the change makes good business sense for the company.

Costolo was "more of a manager, more of an executive, more of a businessman" than Mr. Williams, Wilson tells The New York Times. That said, "It's a very smart and gutsy move for Ev to do so," added Wilson.

"Costolo has been instrumental in moving Twitter toward profitability through an advertising program launched in April called Promoted Tweets," notes Information Week.

"Normally, when a company has three different CEOs in three years, it's a very bad sign," writes TechCrunch. "But in Twitter's case, this does seem to be more about a rapidly-growing company making sure they have the pieces in place for a continued explosion of growth."

Plain and simple, "Williams didn't enjoy some of the headaches associated with being CEO of a rapidly growing organization," writes Mashable.

Costolo, meanwhile, was already knee deep in the company monetization strategy, Forrester analyst Augie Ray tells Bloomberg.

"The biggest challenge for Dick is going to be to balance the increasing expectations and needs for revenue with keeping Twitter Twitter," Ray said. "He's been around for a long time, and that makes him a great candidate to do that."

"With those challenges to face, it makes sense to have, as Williams describes him, a 'three-time successful CEO' at the helm, agrees The Next Web. "Costolo has been the 'money man' ... leading the company's efforts to bring in reliable revenue streams."

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