Twitter for business
I just read an article from USA Today’s Technology Live that covers an interview with Biz Stone, Twitter co-founder, on how Twitter plan to monetize itself.
And, to my surprise, Stone explained that online advertisement is not on Twitter’s monetization plan – That’s quite non-typical…
Twitter monetization plan
Stone explained regarding Twitter’s monetization plan:
…to get corporate giants like Whole Foods, Best Buy, Jet Blue and Comcast, along with small businesses, like New York City cookie shops, to pay Twitter for professional services related to generating Twitter traffic for commercial purposes. He says Twitter this year will begin selling what sounds like subscription services to businesses.
The monetization plan will leave regular users alone from anything related to money, with a hint that users that need more features from Twitter will have access to them in exchange for a certain amount of payment – Stone further explained:
Twitter will remain free for everyone, but we may be able to offer an additional layer of value to some of these commercial accounts… (Twitter offers) a variety of different features that would have some sort of paid level to them.
On Twitter’s main site, I see that it is getting prepared – You can see that it has already prepared a “special guide” – Twitter 101 for Business – aimed to target those using Twitter for businesses purposes.
And Twitter 101′s elevator pitch is pretty much ensuring:
Every day, millions of people use Twitter to create, discover and share ideas with others. Now, people are turning to Twitter as an effective way to reach out to businesses, too. From local stores to big brands, and from brick-and-mortar to internet-based or service sector, people are finding great value in the connections they make with businesses on Twitter.
Considering the impact of Twitter for small businesses, this move is very well beneficial for individuals interested in premium features and small businesses, as well as a huge income generator for Twitter.
Any thoughts on Twitter’s monetization plan? Please share yours by commenting on this blog post :)
Ivan Widjaya
Twitter monetization plan
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I think charging power users for an additional set of features would be well received. I would sign up. This is something Facebook should do, instead of disabling power users for heavy usage.
Jim,
Exactly! Users want more feature because they believe that Twitter (or Facebook) bring the benefits they enjoy – Supporting them is the only way to grow the social media (and their revenue!).