Don't be shy! blog@ohtwitter.com - @dacort - @MarinaMartin
Chris Hudson considers some revenue-generating models for Twitter.
My response:
I think there’s a lot of potential for a freemium model, actually. For one, a paid account could have access to keyword tracking, while free accounts would not. (Or maybe would be limited to tracking just a couple terms.) Tracking is a huge bonus for me, as it’s great for everything from finding neighbors to clients to blog readers to people with common interests.
I would happily pay a monthly fee to use Twitter, and many other people have expressed a similar willingness. Overall adoption would decrease, of course, but on the flipside, they’d actually be generating revenue sans advertising.
Speaking of advertising, there’s always the good ol’ “ad-free paid version.”
If Twitter was your company, how would you turn a profit? Share in the comments!
Twitter needs their own client - they should have been the ones to buy Twhirl. With that client, they have full power to launch ads, and I really don’t think users would mind - Pownce does it with no problem. They should also be doing ads on Twitter.com.
Twitter also needs to come up with some way to get a cut of the money others are making off of their API. If you are making money off of Twitter, you should be paying Twitter for your service - perhaps a clause in their ToS would be a start.
I wish Twitter would actually try to make money - I would feel much more comfortable as a user that they have the pressure to do something about their problems if that were the case.
Comment by Jesse Stay — May 25, 2008 @ 11:51 pm
I think the premium model is key when it comes to making money off of Twitter. Flickr has proven that people will pay for a good service; even if a large majority of users keep the free model, the significant chunk of users that pay help keep the service afloat.
Then again, I love Twitter so much that I said I’d pay for it several months ago: http://is.gd/4Yc — I’m sure there are other people out there like me as well.
Comment by Sameer Vasta — May 26, 2008 @ 7:23 am
Interesting commentary. I can’t see paying more than a buck or two a month. Even that seems a bit much–especially when we get Facebook for free and Netflix is only about $7 a month.
Just added you on twitter. I’m @ dcmusicfusion
I really like your blog network…interesting subjects too. I miss the Ethiopian options I used to have in DC. And who doesn’t dig guinness?!?!
Cheers!
Comment by Nathan Ketsdever — June 3, 2008 @ 1:22 pm