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Twitter To Add Money-Making Features

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the yeah-good-luck-with-that dept.

dreemteem writes "Twitter co-founder Biz Stone told reporters in Mexico City this week that the company expects to add revenue-generating features to the micro-blogging site in the fourth quarter, according to a report from Bloomberg.com."

6 of 89 comments (clear)

  1. Astroturfers Wanted by clang_jangle · · Score: 4, Insightful
    According to TFA:

    After a year or more of speculation by bloggers and financial pundits on ways that Twitter could generate revenue, Stone on Tuesday said the company is building an 'analytics dashboard' designed to help businesses keep track of what is being tweeted about them.

    So this will basically be used to decide when to astroturf.

    --
    Caveat Utilitor
    1. Re:Astroturfers Wanted by tecnico.hitos · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Since most of Twitter is public (if someone expects privacy about what they post, they shouldn't be there to begin with), it's a good, non-disruptive way of generating money.

      If they start inserting ads, it will not go very well.

      --
      The good, the evil and the vacuum tubes.
  2. Re:It was about time... by eln · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Network television is supported by advertising alone, and their costs are far, far higher than the cost to run a social networking site. Yes, advertising revenue online is peanuts compared to TV advertising revenue, but the costs are also peanuts in comparison. On the other hand, the reason online sites are always looking for new ways to insert advertising in the user experience is because, although they might make enough to be profitable, they still aren't raking in "buy your own country" money.

  3. How hypocrite of you... by tecnico.hitos · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Of course, posting witty comments in Slashdot contributes way more to humanity.

    Most people think tweeters just post where they are or what they are doing. A great number of people use twitter for publishing their opinions and interesting articles. It is not very different of Slashdot, it's just not topic-oriented and has a limit of 140 characters per post, what doesn't stop anyone from from making several posts or linking to a blog where the opinion is better explained.

    How irrelevant the "tweet" is depends on the person.

    Several news sources and stores also have twitter accounts, so the people can subscribe to them easier than they would with a RSS news reader. While some might argue they don't need it, it groups all the information in a format which is easier to read and makes any link you might want follow readily available.

    --
    The good, the evil and the vacuum tubes.
    1. Re:How hypocrite of you... by oahazmatt · · Score: 2, Insightful

      I don't believe the OP was referring to individual posters, so much as the system in general.

      Let's face it, Twitter is still fairly new, the media is trying to embrace it, which makes it trendy to a degree. News organizations like CNN and MSNBC utilize it, but that won't necessarily secure it's popularity in the long-run.

      I remember when LiveJournal was "the thing to do". After that it was MySpace. Then it was FaceBook. Somewhere after or between that it was video blogs on YouTube.

      Twitter's popularity is eventually going to level-off. It's not going to remain the focal point of the media. As soon as Twitter is made profitable, Twitter is going to refocus on generating profit. No one knows what affect that will have, but people are fickle about their Internet. Something changes on their site and they don't like it.

      I don't think Twitter is going away. I do think it will lose a lot of steam and settle into it's own nice little corner of the Internet, becoming just another method of communication rather than the heavily-promoted one we see now.

      --
      Those who believe the Internet is private,
      find their privates are on the Internet.
  4. Re:It was about time... by jhfry · · Score: 2, Insightful

    They don't.

    The way I see it, a typical social networking site LOSES money.

    1. get funded and become popular
    2. make a lot of noise so everyone knows about you to attract tons of investment money.
    3. sell to a larger company at inflated values... PROFIT
    4. larger company tries to monetize and realizes that they wasted money.
    5. site becomes so-last-year and dies a slow, painful death.

    What I expect is that they are boosting their "perceived" value in hopes that they can get an inflated offer to buy them out. That's what I would be doing. Trying to generate direct income with twitter will not be easy, and if they fail it will likely destroy any chance of turning a big profit off the large user base they developed.

    --
    Sometimes the best solution is to stop wasting time looking for an easy solution.