Kara Swisher

Recent Posts by Kara Swisher

The BoomTown Movin'-On-Up Tour of Twitter's New San Francisco HQ

Why Twitter invited BoomTown back for another visit to its latest HQ after my last one, I will never know.

But the masters of microblogging did and here is my video of the lovely new digs in San Francisco.

Designed by CEO Evan Williams’s wife, Sara, it is an understated, classy and very hip–but definitely luxe–affair, with cream, celadon, lemongrass and azure, among the soothing colors.

It also broadcasts green living, as long as there is also a pricey espresso machine present and accounted for.

Well, Twitter has raised $155 million in funding, so it is probably good for it.

A little over 100 employees toil–although it’s pretty pleasant toiling, with room for about 200 more–in offices most recently occupied by the now-banished Bebo social networking site, owned by AOL (AOL).

Well, the karma of that Web 2.0 stumble seems to have been feng-shuied out completely, as you will see below.

In fact, Twitter seems to be giving Google (GOOG) a run for its money in workplaces that treat their workforces well, which include Facebook, whose new HQ I toured this summer.

Some Twitter highlights include the same freaky pair of green deer from the company’s smaller previous HQ nearby, a Twitter employee I dubbed “Snuggie Boy,” a tricked-out DJ booth, too many giant “war rooms” to count, more bird images than that, a spate of comfy couches and a very odd but compelling stool made of wood dowels.

And, of course, a free and tasty organic lunch, which is de rigeur for Internet companies.

Oh, before I forget, also Twitter employees.

The person who drew the short straw to be my tour guide was Jenna Sampson, Twitter PR–oops, communications–staffer.

She used to work for Flickr at Yahoo (YHOO), by the way, so Sampson is definitely moving on up to a deluxe HQ in the sky.

Here is a link to video interview I did with Twitter co-founder Biz Stone too.

And here’s the office tour video:

Finally, here is my favorite version of the classic television theme song, “Movin’ on Up,” from “The Jeffersons,” appropriately done by Rhett and Link with an Apple (AAPL) iPhone Leaf Trombone app:

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Nobody was excited about paying top dollar for a movie about WikiLeaks. A film about the origins of Pets.com would have done better.

— Gitesh Pandya of BoxOfficeGuru.com comments on the dreadful opening weekend box office numbers for “The Fifth Estate.”