Maybe Twitter did pay attention to some of the ‘how-twitter-should-monetize’ ideas floating around the web. The co-founder of Twitter, Biz Stone talks to Marketing Magazine on Twitter’s possible business model:

Co-founder Biz Stone told Marketing: ‘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.’ He would not be drawn on the level of charges. Stone said it could also create revenue-generating features to tap into the way brands use Twitter as a hybrid marketing and customer-service tool.

What is interesting is the immediate response from some of the brands interviewed:

But Bob Pearson, vice-president of communities and conversations at Dell, said: ‘If it becomes complicated and costly, our instinct would be to move elsewhere.’ Robin Grant, managing director of social media agency We Are Social, said Twitter could charge for display ads or to access customer information for marketing.

I mentioned the same hesitation earlier in my post about Twitter’s business model. Why would businesses pay a lot of money to market on Twitter when they can easily do so with a free account and the API? After all, Dell has already made $1 million and more from Twitter alone without specialized access. I think the commercial accounts would have to be carefully sold at a reasonable price plan with enough data-mining features in order for brands to really adopt them.

Update: Biz Stone talks a little more about monetization on the official Twitter blog:

We’ve been thinking out loud for more than a year about the growing use of Twitter by companies, brands, and other commercial organizations. It’s great that both individuals and organizations 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. What we’re thinking about is adding value in places where we are already seeing traction, not imposing fees on existing services. We are still very early in the idea stage and we don’t have anything to share just yet despite a recent surge in speculation. When we do, we’ll be sure to let you know.

Related posts:

1. Twitter to Make Money from Tools and Not Ads
2. Another Solution for Twitter’s Revenue Problem
3. Twitter Helps Comcast to Get More Satisfied Customers
4. A Better Twitter Search Experience is Coming

Alley Insider recently held a contest to create Twitter’s Revenue Model, with the aim of helping Twitter find a revenue system and actually start making money. The contest was well received and the winner was announced, an ad agency. Here’s the winning group’s slide presentation:

Twitter Contest-Denuology Entry94 Update

Basically, their plan is to sell data and charge for access to users who can opt-in to do surveys and give feedback to companies. There are some reasons why it might not work as well as planned:

1. Twitter might not be mainstream (or diverse) enough to give brands enough of the specific customer profile.
2. The recruitment of users and the facilitation of conversation can be done without paying Twitter to set up a business account. This can be done right now using Twitter’s free account offering and specific data derived through the API. So why would businesses pay $10,000 to get a premium account set up?

It does seem like it would work but it doesn’t appear to be truly a long-term monetization plan for Twitter, especially one that really involves ALL users (like display ads. See the screenshot above of Twitter Japan)… and not just the ones who opt-in to get surveyed by companies. I also think that selling only to brands that need marketing data is a limited view of Twitter’s monetization potential but it can be a useful supplement or part of a more well-rounded plan.

Related posts:

1. Twitter May Start Charging Brands for Commercial Accounts
2. Twitter to Make Money from Tools and Not Ads
3. Threadless Sells Twitter T-Shirts, Offers Cash Prizes
4. Refollow Helps You Bulk Manage Your Twitter Network