Editor’s note: We did our Big Story on Jack Dorsey’s departure yesterday. It offers more context to Agrawal’s appointment.

The basic bio

Agrawal is a former Mumbaikar, born and raised. He got his undergraduate degree at IIT-Bombay in computer science and engineering—and moved to the US in 2005. Agrawal enrolled in the PhD program at Stanford University—for a degree in computer science… and philosophy! But he took the job at Twitter in 2011 before completing his thesis. From what we can gather, Agrawal never got around to getting that PhD.

His personal life: It is very clear that Agrawal likes to keep his private life very private. His Twitter bio indicates he is married to Vineeta Agarwala, a physician, and adjunct clinical professor at Stanford. Soon after news of the damaad’s new job broke, Agrawal’s delighted father-in-law Indu Bhushan—who appears to be an ex senior bureaucrat—tweeted out:

“Heartiest congratulations on becoming the youngest CEO of a S&P 500 company @paraga! All my best wishes and blessings for a highly successful and memorable tenure. May you navigate the complex world of twitter as dextrously as you are holding my grandson in this picture!” 

The message was accompanied by this photo:

The tweet has since been deleted. Like we said, Parag appears to be big on privacy—which is probably a good trait in a CEO who runs a social media platform.

What we know about Parag…

He’s a super geek: Agrawal’s greatest asset is his mastery of mathematics—plus computer science theory. It’s the reason he became Twitter’s first ever distinguished engineer. While he got the job in 2011 because of his focus on databases—which matters for social media companies who have millions of users—Agrawal has mostly focused on using machine learning to boost revenue and audience numbers.

He may be liberal: Agrawal’s first big lesson as a CEO was an introduction to the greatest peril of his own platform: The old, undeleted tweet. Sent out in 2010, it reads: “If they are not gonna make a distinction between muslims and extremists, then why should I distinguish between white people and racists.”

It sparked immediate outrage among American conservatives who called it “anti-white racism.” Agrawal was actually quoting a joke made by comedian Aasif Mandvi during an episode of The Daily Show—a punchline that challenges the practice of labelling all Muslims as ‘terrorists’.

He’s not hugely popular: While many Indians were celebrating Agrawal’s achievement, the mood among Twitter employees was mixed. According to Bloomberg News:

“A poll on Blind, an anonymous app for employees who sign up with a company email address, found that more than three-quarters of the more than 150 respondents either didn't believe Agrawal was ‘the guy’ for the job, or were waiting to decide but ‘feeling negative.’ Some other employee tweets were more positive, and many acknowledged that the CEO transition already appears smoother than the last time Twitter changed leaders.”

And Agrawal’s first message as CEO to employees seems to indirectly respond to those doubts:

“I've walked in your shoes… I’ve seen the ups and downs, the challenges and obstacles, the wins and the mistakes… I want you to #LoveWhereYouWork and also love how we work together for the greatest possible impact.”

He may be more of a diplomat: than his predecessor. Described as “quiet, polite,” some Indian industry experts compare Agrawal’s style to that of Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella:

“Being an Indian is a big advantage now, people expect us to be good engineers and good managers. From what I know, Parag Agrawal shares Satya’s values and has a similar management style…

 

Jack’s arrogance turned many governments off. If you note how Microsoft has not been the target of the left or right in the U.S., it is because of Satya and his ability to listen to criticism and maintain a balance. I expect that Agrawal will do the same.”

He may change your Twitter timeline: Agrawal’s biggest project as CTO at Twitter is aimed at decentralising moderation—i.e. using AI and blockchains to allow users to have more control over what they see. This also gets the company out of the business of deciding whether or not to remove tweets—which is an ongoing headache for all social media platforms. Agrawal defines Twitter’s job as “we guide people toward what they are interested in”—rather than “we host a bunch of content.”

Point to note: This sounds very democratic except governments are unlikely to let Twitter off the hook—especially in India where new regulation (explained here) is aimed at holding social media platforms responsible for the content they host.

He may break your bubble: In the few interviews he’s given, Agrawal has emphasised exposing people to more diverse perspectives. For example, he would like to encourage you to follow topics instead of people:

“By following topics you’re choosing and able to get a diverse set of perspectives related to that topic instead of just your set of voices that you chose to hear. And we believe a future more topical way of using Twitter is likely to expose people to a broader range of perspectives, a broader set of viewpoints, and help people sort of not be in a filter bubble.”

The bottomline: Silicon Valley observers expect an Agrawal-led Twitter to roll out lots of new products and features in the coming months. These products will have to grow the platform’s audience, make lots of money, keep governments happy—and maybe even clean the toxic proliferation of trolls. We wish Parag all the luck he will need.

One more reason he may need that luck: What the Indian government will expect from a ‘Made in India’ CEO: “New Delhi’s expectations could also go up—for instance, that all engagement must happen with Parag Agrawal and not an India-based CEO.”

Reading list

New York Times has the best profile of Agrawal. For a non-paywall version, check out CNN. Bloomberg News has two pieces on the challenges he will face—at the global level and in India. Mashable has more on the controversy over his tweet. We highly recommend checking out Agrawal’s older interviews over at LinkedIn and with MIT Technology Review. They offer the best clues to his vision for Twitter.