It’s been the question that has intrigued the blogosphere of late: how is Twitter going to make money? There has been speculation over how it could be achieved, with many guessing at a kind of two-tier account system: one for the normal user and one for the commercial user. It seems those guesses were, in part, correct.

Twitter is now three years old, and in that time has seen both levels of investment and its number of users grow at a fast rate. However, in that three-year period, Twitter hasn’t made a bean in revenue, and the way in which it was ever going to be able to do so has been a bone of contention.

Its legion of fans have, in the past, expressed displeasure at the idea of having direct advertising in Twitter streams. Despite this, there have been some third parties attempting to do exactly that. So it seems alternative solutions must be found to the problem of actually making some money.

The commercial aspects of Twitter, and social media in general, are only really now starting to be explored. And this looks to be the area Twitter hopes to exploit in order to generate some revenue. Not that there’s any great rush, you understand, because Twitter is currently quids in thanks to its venture funding.

According to the Wall Street Journal, Twitter co-founder Biz Stone has now admitted for the first time that paid-for commercial features are planned in the near future. Stone stated that the company had now, “hired a product manager to oversee the development of commercial accounts.” And that these accounts, “would offer users more features in exchange for a fee.”

Stone then emailed The Business Insider to ratify his comments:

Commercial entities like Whole Foods, Starbucks, Mission Pie, 52 Teas, JetBlue, even the Korean taco truck guy are all on Twitter—users and businesses alike are finding value.

Our question is, how can we help? What can Twitter offer for a fee that will improve the experience? Will it be account verification? Will it be lightweight analytics? Will there be opportunities for introducing customers to businesses on Twitter?

So many questions. But the key is to understand that Twitter will remain free for all to use—individuals and companies alike. We are thinking about simple business products that enhance and encourage what is already happening.

So rather than multi-level accounts, some paid-for and some free, it looks instead as though all accounts will be free with those choosing to pay getting extra value added for their trouble. What these extra features will be is anyone’s guess.

One possibility is being featured on the homepage or under the Suggested Users tab, both of which would likely ensure a wealth of new followers. Whatever it ends up being, Twitter is starting to take the issue of generating revenue seriously. Along with the Microsoft-funded ExecTweets collaboration, pro accounts could ensure the money starts rolling in.

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Entry was posted on Thursday, March 26th, 2009 at 12:46 am under Internet, Opinion, Social Media.

Read more entries by Dave Parrack.
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