Twitter names new Irish boss amid mounting losses and global job cuts
Sinéad McSweeney is taking over from Mark Little as managing director of Twitter’s Irish operations.
TWITTER IRELAND HAS appointed Sinéad McSweeney as managing director.
The news comes shortly after ex-RTÉ journalist and Storyful founder Mark Little announced that he was stepping down as head Twitter’s Irish operations just six months after taking up the role.
McSweeney joined the company in 2012 and is currently vice president of public policy and communications for Europe, Middle East and Africa. She will retain that role when she takes over as MD.
She is joining the social network at a difficult time: the site is looking to overhaul its corporate structure amid mounting losses and poor growth in its user base.
It was announced in October that Twitter is cutting about 9% of its employees worldwide. The social media site has failed to keep pace with rivals Facebook, Snapchat and Instagram.
The cuts to the company were revealed after a possible takeover offers from the likes of Google and Salesforce failed to materialise.
Sinead McSweeney
Public relations
Prior to working for Twitter, McSweeney, was director of communications for An Garda Síochána and before that was director of media and public relations for the Police Service of Northern Ireland.
She has held a range of political advisory positions including the role of special adviser to the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform.
A native of Midleton, County Cork, she studied law at University College Cork before qualifying as a barrister in 1993.
She began her career as a parliamentary transcriber in the Dáil debates unit of the Houses of the Oireachtas.
Speaking on her announcement, McSweeney said the challenge of leading Twitter’s Irish arm “through the next phase is one that I am excited to embrace”.
