Michael Arrington of TechCrunch claims that Google is in talks to purchase Twitter, according to unnamed sources. The entire internet explodes with discussion about what this could all mean. Then, this morning, Kara Swisher of Wall Street Journal, Boomtown, and All Things D, claims, rather authoritatively, that Google is not in talks to buy Twitter according to Boom Town's "numerous sources." (Note: if you're wondering What is Twitter?, we have an article explaining just that.)

Nothing's more interesting online than two large internet presences like Arrington and Swisher going head to head on their sources, so everyone is still discussing whether this rumor is true or not. I, personally, think it's not true, for multiple reasons. First, and most notably, when it comes to Google news, Swisher is more often on target than Arrington.

Secondly, Google already bought Jaiku, a service that is very similar to Twitter well over a year ago and which did have a nice following in Europe. They didn't do anything with it for a long time, so that the service practically died. And then all of a sudden, not too long ago, Google announced that it was no longer focusing on actively developing Jaiku (along with several other services it was shuttering), but that it was releasing the Jaiku code base as open source on Google Code so that fans could create their own microblogging services on the Google App Engine. This speaks to two things that are pretty consistently true about Google. First, Google is not really that interested in running its own microblogging service. Secondly, Google tends to buy technology, not audiences. The one notable exception to this rule was when Google purchased YouTube for an exorbitant amount when it already had Google Video up and running. Since then it has shuttered Google Video development (at the same time it shuttered Jaiku development), and YouTube has become Google's primary video service. Nevertheless, Google spent a lot of money on YouTube and it's unclear when that investment will reach profitability, so it's doubtful that Google would spend money in a similar audience-facing purchase move on a property that is made of text (Google is already designed to search text), a property that while it has had tremendous growth pales in comparison to YouTube's early growth, and a property whose technology it already purchased elsewhere.

And finally, as a tribute to the absurdity of the current kerfuffle over these rumors of whether Google is buying Twitter or not, I present to you the sobering reality check of exactly how Twitter is at times perceived in this video, embedded below, of Twitter co-founder Biz Stone's recent appearance on The Colbert Report, where Stone notably mentions that Twitter is taking its time to find its way with patient investors. That certainly doesn't sound like a business looking to sell itself to Facebook, Google, or any of the other companies out there that everyone keeps talking about purchasing Twitter.

The Colbert Report	Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
Biz Stone
comedycentral.com
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