Mike Isaac

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Also on Twitter Board’s Agenda: Adding a Woman Director

In its continued search to strengthen the company’s board of directors, Twitter has placed top priority on adding a woman to the current all-male roster, according to sources close to the situation.

A number of female candidates have already been interviewed, but none have been selected, these sources say.

It’s an obvious logical step for the microblogging service.

As Kara Swisher noted nearly two years ago, Web 2.0 companies have few women board members, unlike a number of public tech companies.

That includes Google, Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, LinkedIn and eBay — major technology companies whose boards include one or more women.

But Twitter does not.

It has not been alone. Facebook added its first female director only recently, with COO Sheryl Sandberg being appointed to the board over the summer. That was soon followed by Zynga, which named longtime digital exec Ellen Siminoff recently.

Twitter’s search for a female director does not sideline the company’s continued search for other seasoned media players to join its board.

As previously reported, sources say that Hollywood exec Peter Chernin has been on Twitter’s short list for a seat. Along with years of experience at News Corp., Chernin played a role in the formation of the Hulu streaming video service, and currently sits on the board of Internet radio Web site Pandora.

Currently, Twitter’s board includes CEO Dick Costolo, company founders Jack Dorsey and Evan Williams, and investors such as Peter Fenton of Benchmark Capital and Peter Currie of Currie Capital. Former DoubleClick CEO David Rosenblatt also holds a seat.

After conflicts of interest arose, Flipboard CEO Mike McCue stepped down from his board position over the summer. McCue’s seat is presumably the one being filled, but the size of the board might also expand by two or more.

Considering the company’s recent push into the mainstream film and television arena, along with seeking more advertising revenue, the lack of at least one major media exec on the board could be seen as a deficiency.

Twitter declined to comment on this report.

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