For months now, there’s been a growing debate, about what kind of business model Twitter will use. Today, things have become a little clearer!
Twitter to charge business users
It seems that charging companies to use an enhanced set of features, is part of their monetization plan! Who says so? Twitter co-founder Biz Stone; speaking today to Marketing Magazine.
Here’s what he said:
We are noticing more companies using Twitter and individuals following them. We can identify ways to make this experience even more valuable and charge for commercial accounts.
No hints were given as to the charges or the service enhancements that Twitter’s paying corporate ‘clients’ will receive.
This seems like a logical move. Many companies are already using Twitter as a marketing tool and benefiting massively from it. These range from entrepreneurs, to the likes of; Zappo’s, Dell and Starbucks. Dell claims to have already generated $1million in sales as a direct result of Twitter!
In addition, most professional blogs and podcasters are using Twitter to generate traffic (and thus increase their ad revenue); with Techcrunch, Mashable, TWiT, CNET etc now followed by tens of thousands of people.
With so many companies generating so much additional revenue because of Twitter, I think this form of monetization will be pretty well received by the majority of Twitter users.
What do YOU think?
How do you think Twitter should monetize their service? Share your ideas in the comments section!
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Hi Jim,
You might want to check out the Twitter blog (http://blog.twitter.com/) for an update on this issue. They write:
“…it’s important to note that whatever we come up with, Twitter will remain free to use by everyone—individuals, companies, celebrities, etc. What we’re thinking about is adding value in places where we are already seeing traction, not imposing fees on existing services.”
Don’t know if this is backtracking or the real story, but thought you’d like to see the “official position”.
Best,
Geo2
Hi George,
Thanks for the comment.
It seems that the post on http://blog.twitter.com confirms that they are about to introduce charging for additional features, as reported here and elsewhere this week.
I’m guessing that they have released this statement, to reassure people that the ‘regular’ twitter features will remain free. This was always going to be the case – to charge people for the current service would see them lose the massive majority of their users.
The value to businesses of better tech support (any tech support would be an improvement) and the ability to work more effectively with lists etc is something businesses have been crying out for, for ages – and something they will pay for.
Thanks again Geo2
Sure, happy to help!