Twitter CEO: We're saving live TV

Twitter CEO Dick Costolo pitched the social network as a potent weapon for businesses. Twitter has become a "second screen" alongside television, making major social events out of live TV, programmed broadcasts and even commercials, Costolo said in a keynote address at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.

"There are business implications of this trend: TV shows become events, meaning people watch them as they happen," Costolo said. "We're so used to creating experiences for our users, but now our users are creating experiences for each other." Twitter provides a social framework around television, forcing people to watch shows as they air to get the full TV-watching experience, Costolo said. And here's good news for advertisers: Twitter logs show that users are also watching the commercials.