Mark Little named new MD of Twitter in Ireland

16 Jun 2016

Mark Little, new managing director of Twitter in Ireland

Former RTÉ broadcaster and Storyful founder Mark Little is to take the helm as managing director of Twitter in Ireland. After four-and-a-half years in the nest at Twitter, Stephen McIntyre is flying to the world of venture capital.

McIntyre is departing Twitter to join Frontline Ventures at the beginning of July.

He grew Ireland’s Twitter presence from a handful of people to more than 200 people and spearheaded the social networks advertising growth in Europe.

‘Twitter has never been more vital in the world and in Ireland, as we continue to go from strength to strength’
– MARK LITTLE, TWITTER

Twitter is in the process of moving its Dublin offices around the corner from its current base on Pearse Street to a new 85,000 sq ft premises on Cumberland Street that it is sub-letting from Hibernia REIT plc. It will pay close to €5m a year for the new office space.

A new character at Twitter

Little is a familiar face to many. He joined Twitter in November as VP of media for EMEA.

In 2010, Little felt the future of journalism was due an imminent change, and left a successful career at Ireland’s national broadcaster RTÉ where he had been Washington correspondent, as well as presenting its flagship current affairs programme Prime Time.

He had an epiphany about the future of media and began Storyful as an online agency first, before pivoting towards a winning formula of discovering and validating accurate and genuine video online.

The strategy worked and News Corp came calling, acquiring Storyful for €18m in December 2013.

The company has since expanded from 30 people at the time of the acquisition to almost 90 people in Dublin, New York, London, Hong Kong, Atlanta and Sydney.

Commenting on his new appointment as head of Twitter, Little said: “I am delighted to be appointed head of Twitter in Ireland and to lead our Europe, Middle East and Africa headquarters into the next phase of our development.

“Twitter has never been more vital in the world and in Ireland, as we continue to go from strength to strength. We are looking forward to an exciting few months ahead of opening our new offices on Cumberland Place.

“I also want to thank Stephen for his immense contribution in building the Twitter Ireland team. As one of Twitter’s first employees in Ireland, he oversaw the establishment of the office and helped us grow to the 200-strong team we have today. We all wish him well on his next chapter.”

John Kennedy is a journalist who served as editor of Silicon Republic for 17 years

editorial@siliconrepublic.com