Twitter hires Google Maps Director Daniel Graf to head consumer products division

Twitter Inc. (NYSE:TWTR) has a new acquisition, former Google Maps Director, Daniel Graf. He will lead Twitter’s consumer products division as its new vice president. Graf is also an expert when it comes to mobile apps. However, he has not tweeted much according to his Twitter profile. That may or may not change.

This role was vacant for several months. Graf’s predecessor was Michael Sippey who left his post in January. Graf is 39, and he oversaw Google Maps mobile since 2012. Before that, he was the CEO of Kyte, which is an online mobile and social media platform.

Daniel GrafGraf did send this tweet on Tuesday, “Followed Maps to find that the flock was just around the corner – excited to take wing with the @twitter product team…” His twitter account is @danielgraf.

Graf is in charge of helping to turn around Twitter’s product strategy. It remained relatively stagnant for a few years until it came under the direction of Chief Operating Officer Ali Rowghani, last fall.

It was Rowghani who helped to lead the search for a new VP of their consumer products division. Graf will report directly to Rowghani, as well. Some of the changes made, since Rowghani has come on board, have been updated user profiles in addition to image previews. These alterations have been planned for years but were pushed aside. However, Rowghani finally made them a priority.

Futhermore, Twitter wants Graf to make the site a friendlier place. This is part of the goal to engage its user base even more and acquire new users, too. If Twitter’s growth stays at 3.9 percent, it will take 11 years to reach Facebook’s user base of 1.23 billion. So, Twitter wants to change that.