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Twitter has acquired Peer, an employee and manager feedback tool launched by former Salesforce COO George Hu, the startup quietly announced yesterday.
Peer sought to reinvent performance reviews and create an environment where employees could monitor their performance continuously — similar to how Uber drivers keep tabs on their rating from ride to ride.
Hu’s original launch announcement, published in 2015, sums up Peer’s mission. As fate would have it, Hu even mentions Twitter directly in the post [emphasis ours].
Peer brings the feedback revolution to work with a fresh approach to continuous feedback and performance … Feedback is social, coming from the people we work most with … Just as Twitter opens up new conversations about what’s happening in the world, and Facebook opens up new conversations around what’s happening in our personal lives, I believe Peer will open up new conversations around how we’re doing at work and how we can get better.
Peer appears to have already shut down following the deal — the company’s site no longer promotes or describes its service.
For now, we’re left with a brief teaser from Hu: “Peer is focused on driving honest conversations. Excited to see the team support the efforts of the world’s greatest conversation platform.”
“Honest conversations,” huh? Maybe this deal is Twitter’s ticket to solving (or at least somewhat reducing) its widespread harassment problem? Surely the company doesn’t just plan on using Peer to improve internal morale? We’ve reached out to Twitter for comment.
Update April 9 10:41 p.m. PT: Twitter later confirmed the acquisition. The company declined to share how Peer’s team and technology will be integrated with Twitter.
However, it appears our hunch was off: We’re hearing that Peer’s ability to analyze morale won’t play a role in combating harassment.
