Officials extol Twitter's decision as sign of Utah's tech strength

SALT LAKE CITY — Twitter profiles are going crazy over the news that a custom data center for the company will be built in Utah.

The announcement was made Wednesday afternoon on the micro-blog of a Twitter engineer.

And while the social-networking company is holding back information, such as the number of jobs it will create and the new center's location, U.S, Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, may have let something slip.

"Sweet to have the Tweet ops in our district!" the congressman published on his own Twitter feed Thursday afternoon.

Chaffetz's district covers West Jordan, parts of Sandy and West Valley, and all of Utah County, plus middle-of-Utah counties such as Sevier, Millard and Sanpete.

That same region includes major information technology firms such as eBay and has even been dubbed "silicon slopes" by industry professionals.

Salt Lake Chamber spokesman Marty Carpenter attributes the success of the area to low electricity costs and a young, well-educated work force.

"Success breeds success, and momentum builds upon itself," he said.

The chamber had not heard of Twitter's expansion plans until the short message was posted online.

The Governor's Office of Economic Development, on the other hand, knew of the deal ahead of time, according to GOED Executive Director Spencer Eccles.

"We're very excited that Twitter's coming, but we're not surprised," he said. "This is the first data center that Twitter will own. It clearly demonstrates their commitment to the state of Utah and the viability of the company."

Utah Gov. Gary Herbert also praised the company. Rightfully, he used the micro-blogging company to do it.

"Twitter is coming to Utah!" he posted. "Great news for our growing software and technology econ(omic) clusters. Econ(omic) dev(elopment) happening in Utah."

Industry experts joined Herbert in piling on the praise of both San Francisco-based Twitter and Utah economic policies.