Is Google in talks to take over Twitter?

A report published on the influential Silicon Valley blog TechCrunch claims that Google is in 'advanced talks' to acquire micro-blogging site Twitter, but other IT blogs say the talks are merely 'product-related' informal discussions.Google chief executive Eric Schmidt recently dismissed Twitter as a "poor man's email" and shot down speculation the Web search giant was interested in buying the micro-blogging sensation.That may no longer be the case.Influential technology blogger Michael Arrington reported on his blog TechCrunch on Friday that the Mountain View, California-based Internet powerhouse is in talks to acquire the hot San Francisco-based startup.Citing two sources familiar with the matter, TechCrunch said the price was unknown but it was likely to be "well, well north" of the 250-million-dollar valuation placed on Twitter in a recent round of venture capital funding.Arrington said Google would pay cash or publicly valued stock for Twitter, which turned down a 500-million-dollar takeover offer from social network colossus Facebook just a few months ago.Arrington initially reported that Google and Twitter were in "late-stage negotiations" but he backed off that assertion slightly in a later post in which he said the acquisition talks were "still fairly early stage."But Kara Swisher, another respected Silicon Valley blogger, writing on her blog Boomtown, dismissed the report by rival TechCrunch."While the 'news' that Google was in 'late-stage' talks to acquire Twitter, which TechCrunch reported last night, certainly sounds exciting, it isn’t accurate in any way," Swisher said.