Twitter tries to make a profit without resorting to using advertising
19 May 2009
Twitter is working on ways to take advantage of its fast-growing microblogging service, and hopes to make money from it by developing add-on tools.
Twitter co-founder Biz Stone said the company were not considering advertising but did want to provide services for professional users of Twitter that would create a revenue stream for the company.
The free social networking site became a sensation overnight after it was praised by celebrities including Oprah Winfrey and Stephen Fry.
It allows people post 140-character messages or 'tweets' that can be viewed by friends who have agreed to 'follow' them online. They can be sent to the site using a computer or mobile.
Most internet start-ups manage to keep their service free for consumers by using advertising, but Mr Stone said ads could annoy users and wouldn't be pursued.
The company also turned down a £320million acquisition offer from Facebook last year.
Biz Stone, Twitter co-founder, plans to introduce tools and services to help businesses and may charge fees
Mr Stone said the company's main focus was developing new features for commercial users, such as 'lightweight analytics' that would collect data on how often a user tweets, to whom and also commonly used words. However, such tools already exist on websites like tweetstats.com
They are also creating a directory of commercial accounts that would verify that businesses on Twitter are legitimate.
Mr Stone added they had talked with mobile phone carriers to make sure Twitter works on their text messaging networks, and said it was possible they could strike revenue-sharing agreements. But he added the company was not under pressure by its investors to earn a profit in the near future.
The venture capital-backed company is only two years old but has already attracted 17million users.
However, a recent study Nielsen Online revealed that 60 per cent of users stop using the free website just a month after joining it.
Source: Mail | Science and Tech
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