Biz Stone, the co-founder of Twitter, has been awarded the CIPR President’s Medal in recognition of his contribution to the public relations industry.

Stone has developed new forms of media, networks and applications that have modernised the way public relations professionals operate. Twitter, his most influential achievement, has enabled organisations to foster an open dialogue with their audiences.

Upon receiving the award, Stone comments, “We built Twitter to be readable and writable on every mobile phone on the planet because SMS is ubiquitous. Our goal was to provide the infrastructure to support the creativity and engagement that emerged. That ambition has meant that it has become a platform for public engagement and is part of the changing nature of communication between individuals and organizations.”

As well as co-founding Twitter, Stone is co-founder and CEO of Jelly Industries, the app development company behind Super.me and has previously launched Medium, a blog-publishing platform with fellow Twitter co-founder Evan Williams.

The award was presented at the South by South West 2015 Music, Film, and Interactive Festival, in Austin, Texas by Rob Brown, CIPR President 2016.

Former CIPR president and chief engagement officer at Ketchum, Stephen Waddington, who chose Stone as recipient of the medal, says, “Biz’s innovations have driven genuine two-way engagement – accelerating the pace of change in public relations, in my view, like no other.”

The CIPR President’s Medal is gifted at the president’s discretion and was first awarded in 1966. Previous winners of the President’s Medal include Lord Coe, Sir Tim Berners Lee and Archbishop Desmond Tutu.