dell-on-twitter

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.

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More articles about Twitter:

  1. Twitter to Make Money from Tools and Not Ads
  2. A Better Twitter Search Experience is Coming
  3. Another Solution for Twitter’s Revenue Problem
  4. Creating a Twitter Feed for Conferences and Events

Filed under: Monetizing Twitter • News about Twitter