After joining Twitter three years ago to run its communications team, former Googler Gabriel Stricker has stepped down from the position. There’s no word on whether he left on his own, was pushed out…or both, which tends to happen in high-profile changes like this.
Fittingly, Stricker “replied” to his original tweet about joining the company with his goodbye:
A Twitter spokesperson shared this statement with us:
Comms on Comms. Always fun.
This isn’t the first executive to leave Twitter over the past month or so. Its CEO Dick Costolo decided it was time to fly the coop, as well.
At one point, Stricker was head of both communications and marketing, with the marketing part being stripped away as recently as last year. His official title was “CCO” or Chief Communications Officer and his still-present executive bio on Twitter.com reads:
Stricker replaced Sean Garrett who left the company in 2011.
There are any number of potential replacements for his role, with some internal candidates that would make sense. Recently, Twitter comms veteran Carolyn Penner made the move to run communications and marketing for Twitter-acquired Vine, so the team is clearly shaking itself up as it grows.
Twitter isn’t just the 140-character box anymore. There are analytics, ads and things that larger companies need to weave into their messaging and communication strategies. Twitter’s self-admittedly never excelled at explaining itself or finding the right strategy to make itself palatable to a wider audience.
While at Google, Marissa Mayer trusted Stricker with the infamous (now deleted, sadly) “acquisition Haiku” tweet:

