Twitter charging - nothing to report yet
February 11th, 2009 by Lloyd Gofton
Just in case you haven’t noticed, Twitter is now officially everywhere and everyone is Tweeting, well okay not exactly, but it seems that way. Over the last few weeks we’ve seen mainstream coverage of Twitter explode, as more and more celebs get involved. In fact, it seemed nearly every TV programme or paper contained a Twitter story last week. Obviously the web had been alive with Twitter-related stories and rumours for much longer, but when we begin to see and hear stories in the Sun and on Radio 1, we know a new level has been reached.
So, it shouldn’t have been a surprise that discussion reached such heights yesterday as various reports came through that Twitter would be charging brands to use the service, which many put down to quotes by Twitter co-founder Biz stone in: Marketing, which has resulted in further debate on Brand Republic, and a whole host of additional stories on the likes of The Telegraph and TechCrunch and many more.
The Marketing quote from Biz Stone was: ‘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.’
Biz went on to confirm Twitter could also create revenue-generating features to tap into the way brands use Twitter as a hybrid marketing and customer-service tool.
As soon as that went out, the stories and debate kicked-off, Twitter was alive with conversation, but today it seems we are no closer to a paid service for brands, as Biz set the record straight on the Twitter blog with a headline that I’ve borrowed for this post of: nothing to report yet.
In fact, as it turns out, Biz has been discussing this issue for over a year, and probably figured most people were aware, thanks to the coverage at the time. In his post, Stone confirmed:“We’ve been thinking out loud for more than a year about the growing use of Twitter by companies, brands and other commercial organisations. It’s great that both individuals and organisations are finding value in Twitter and there may be ways we can enrich the experience. In fact, we hope to begin iterating on revenue products this year.
“However, it’s important to note that whatever we come up with, Twitter will remain free to use by everyone - individuals, companies, celebrities, etc.”
So where does that leave us? Well, look back a few years, remember the mass coverage around Facebook, and non-stop rumours about what and how it will make money. This seems to be a very similar situation. The one interesting thing that has come out of the story is further debate on how Twitter should make money, which i’m sure Biz Stone and his team will be monitoring. Jemima Kiss did an excellent round up on this issue in the Guardian’s PDA blog.
So, as far as the big question; What is Twitter’s next step? is concerned, keep an eye out, but maybe try Twitter’s blog first, they’ve been pretty open with developments thus far.
