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Here’s why Larry Page told Google+ lead Vic Gondotra he can’t use Twitter


20091110VicGundotra (1)

[tweet https://twitter.com/vicgundotra/status/35182523650801664]

Google Senior Vice President of Engineering Vic Gundotra, who is also known as the man behind Google+, admitted at the SMX Social Media Marketing conference last night that “his boss” asked him to stop tweeting on Twitter. 

Many reports assumed Google CEO Larry Page is the boss in question and further surmised that the above tweet is probably the reason behind his request. Gundotra’s tweet occurred around the same time Microsoft landed a strategic mobile partnership with Nokia that would replace Symbian with the Windows Phone operating system. The timing led to speculation that the tweet was a dig at both companies.

The Next Web published a transcript of Gundotra’s explanation:

No, actually I was asked not to do that by my boss. I tweeted a tweet about two companies that went viral, went very very viral and made a lot of headline news. And honestly, I didn’t anticipate that my comments would be interpreted in the way they were interpreted.

I thought I was speaking to a relatively small number of people who followed me, a developer-oriented group, and instead it went mainstream. And so, uhm, I’ve curtailed my usage since then.

Gundotra last tweeted in July 2011.

Page obviously hasn’t restricted his vocal executive from Google+, however. Gundotra is very active on the social network, as he has often leaked Google announcements through his profile.

In September 2012, for instance, Gundotra gave new Google+ numbers, and then he teased the unreleased Android version of Snapseed in October. Just a few weeks later, he also posted photos from a yet-to-be-unveiled Nexus 10.

So, while Twitter is off-limits, Google+ appears to be fair game.

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