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"Dick Costolo is breaking a sweat. The chief executive officer of Twitter \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\tTWTR\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t has plenty to fret over: Earlier in the day hackers had hijacked his chief financial officer\u2019s tweets, sending out hundreds of spam links to followers and bringing to the surface, yet again, fears over compromised accounts. The week before, even as the social media company announced quarterly revenue and earnings that beat expectations, its disappointing user growth came under scrutiny (the company has just a quarter of the user base amassed by social-networking behemoth Facebook \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\tFB\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t). What\u2019s more, the recent departure of several top executives has refueled concerns over management\u2019s ability to clearly define its strategy, not to mention hold on to key employees. At the moment, though, none of those stresses are the cause of Costolo\u2019s perspiration. The culprit? A grueling fitness craze called CrossFit, which combines Olympic-size body weights and intense cardio moves in a single workout. In a red T-shirt and black shorts, the bespectacled actor turned Google \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\tGOOG\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t exec turned CEO crouches down to touch his toes, then hurls his wiry frame back and forth across the 45-pound barbells on the floor in front of him. Finally, he picks up the massive weights and lifts them over his head with a huff.\n\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\nWelcome to Twitter\u2014or more accurately, the San Francisco\u2013based company\u2019s second-floor gym. The nine-year-old microblogging service, which makes its debut on Fortune\u2019s Best Companies to Work For list at No. 24 this year, has had its fair share of ups and downs. Case in point: After going public in late 2013, its stock rose 282% but is now trading just slightly above its opening price. Despite the fluctuations\u2014not to mention management\u2019s decision to put down roots in one of the Bay Area\u2019s grittiest neighborhoods (more on that later)\u2014Twitter has become a sought-after place to work in the region. An average of 230 applicants vie for every open position, angling for a way to become part of a company many believe will continue to change the way we disseminate and consume information. Onsite perks such as free yoga and improv classes and all the food you can eat help attract talent, but those are staples in many tech companies. Even more attractive, say many employees, is the desire to \u201Cmake a difference,\u201D both in the world at large and in Twitter\u2019s own backyard. The fact that it\u2019s the kind of place where, despite its ballooning workforce, you can still sweat alongside your CEO is an added bonus.\n\u201CWhen you work at Twitter, you get an opportunity to work at a company and on a platform that is visibly changing the world every day,\u201D Costolo says during a phone interview a week after the CrossFit class (and, incidentally, a few days after he fractured his collarbone on a ski trip).\nBefore joining Twitter in late 2009, the athletic CEO spent a couple of years as an exec at Google. Its influence on Twitter\u2019s informal culture is apparent. Twice a month Costolo assembles the entire employee base in a light-filled open area near the company\u2019s massive cafeteria. (Twitter occupies seven of the 11 floors in the building; the crown jewel is a 16,500-square-foot rooftop deck, where workers lounge on outdoor couches and synthetic grass.) Costolo and the rest of Twitter\u2019s 10&amp;#8211;person management team use the twice-monthly \u201Ctea times\u201D to update employees on company milestones and goals, answer impromptu questions from the crowd, and highlight popular tweets and world events captured on the service. The same all-hands approach is taken every time the company releases quarterly earnings\u2014employees are called into the common area, the numbers are explained, and questions are answered. \n\u201CI\u2019ve always felt it was important for me to be present, for anyone in the company to feel like they could walk up to me and have a forthright conversation with me,\u201D says Costolo. \u201CAs you grow as a company, the view from the top becomes more and more distorted. So I really go out of my way to be present and show the employee base that I think of them as peers and colleagues, and I encourage them to challenge my thinking and engage in sharp questions with me.\u201D\nCostolo even makes an appearance on the first day of each weeklong orientation for new hires, internally known as \u201CFlight School.\u201D During the course of the orientation session, recent hires are taught tweeting guidelines\u2014confidential information that is shared during the company\u2019s all-hands meetings, for example, must not be repeated. They\u2019re also given a tour of Twitter\u2019s headquarters, including the Lodge, a communal area where two real log cabins\u2014sourced from Craigs-list\u2014are used for meetings and social events (wine, beer, and kombucha are all on tap). The large television screens, roomy leather booths, and high-rise tables and chairs in the Lodge give the space a comfy, lounge-like feel. Elsewhere in the office employees sit in open-floor formation and are free to move about from place to place, toting laptops stickered with Twitter\u2019s signature blue bird. \n\u201CIt\u2019s not working in a garage, but it\u2019s also not a place where the future of the company is set in stone,\u201D says Alex Roetter, a VP of engineering. \nIndeed, Twitter\u2019s fate is still up in the air. Even as the company\u2019s revenue and earnings continue to rise, Wall Street has worried about its slowing user growth. Some investors have even called on Costolo to step down. (The CEO says he loves his job and told Fortune he doesn\u2019t know where recent rumors of a possible departure came from.) The situation in Twitter\u2019s own neighborhood has also been precarious at times. \n\nEvery day about 2,000 workers flock to Twitter\u2019s offices on the outskirts of downtown San Francisco. (Another 1,600 employees work in other hubs around the world.) The so-called Twitterloin\u2014located at the edge of the city\u2019s Tenderloin neighborhood\u2014is home to decrepit hotels, strip clubs, and many of the city\u2019s homeless. It also has a high crime rate. Earlier this year a suitcase full of dismembered body parts was found nearby. \nTo be sure, Twitter isn\u2019t the only tech company to have set up shop in the area: The city of San Francisco has offered extensive breaks on payroll taxes for companies that move into the long-neglected neighborhood, and the list includes other hot tech startups like Square, Uber, and One Kings Lane. But Twitter was among the first to do so (the tax incentive is colloquially referred to as the \u201CTwitter tax break\u201D) and remains the largest tech employer in the neighborhood. The company\u2019s execs say that they are not only committed to staying in the area but also encouraging their employees to help the local population\u2014and claim the desire to do so is actually enticing workers. \n\u201CIf you want to attract the best talent, this is key,\u201D Caroline Barlerin, head of community outreach and philanthropy at Twitter, says of the company\u2019s efforts to do good in the neighborhood. \nLast year Twitter shelled out more than $367,000 to local nonprofits. Employees regularly volunteer at the nearby Boys &amp;amp; Girls Club, churches, and public schools, mentoring children and serving meals. The company has donated laptops and other equipment to neighborhood centers and provided its office space for nonprofits to host events and fundraisers. The company\u2019s biggest push to aid the nearby community is the soon-to-be-opened Twitter NeighborNest, a learning center it is building just across the street from its office. The space will be fully staffed by Twitter volunteers and will offer free computer classes (with child care) to anyone in the area. \n\u201CI wanted the employees here to feel that we are putting down roots in the community,\u201D says Costolo. \u201CIn order to do that they have to be a part of that community.\u201D\nWhile Twitter is still far from making a profound impact on the Tenderloin (some argue that its presence will have a detrimental effect on the area\u2019s residents because of the inevitability of gentrification), its dicey location doesn\u2019t seem to be scaring off employees. Neither does its uncertain ability to keep growing its user base at a fast enough rate. And young engineers aren\u2019t the only ones drawn to Twitter\u2019s Art Deco headquarters. Its offices have been visited by a steady stream of celebrities and world leaders, including Seth Rogen, Lena Dunham, and Hillary Clinton. \nThat kind of exposure is one of the things that has made Twitter a special place to work\u2014even in a region flush with onsite massages, free snacks, and CrossFit sessions with CEOs.\nCheck out Twitter&amp;#8217;s perks on our 100 best companies to work for list here.\nThis story is from the March 15, 2015 issue of Fortune."^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://fortune.com/2015/03/05/twitter-office/>