AdAge’s Abbey Klaassen has some thoughts on how Twitter can make money. Let’s take a look at her list, and comment on her suggestions.
1. CHARGE FOR IT
Of course, companies can already use the service for free, so what, exactly, would be new? Ian Schafer, CEO of Deep Focus, has some ideas: more-customizable profile pages, a dashboard to manage followers and tech support.
Comment: It’s the easiest concept to understand but it’s unlikely anyone would pay much to use Twitter. You could maybe get $2 to $5 if Twitter was able to offer QoS guarantees and additional features such as file-sharing.
2. ADVERTISING!
“It wouldn’t be so bad,” wrote Jason Calacanis, if every 10th or 100th tweet was an ad. Graphical ads would really pop on the text-heavy page.
Comment: Judging from what Twitter co-founder Biz Stone said recently, it isn’t going to happen even though most users wouldn’t put up much of a fuss if Twitter did it.
3. CREATE A CONTEXTUAL AD ENGINE
Writes Jason D’Amata: “If I tweeted ‘Twilight,’ not only would Twitter be able to identify me as someone to serve a targeted (movie, book, culture, etc.) ad to … Twitter can take all the language of my tweets and have a working profile for me … à la Gmail.”
Comment: Again, advertising makes a lot of sense but Twitter has little public appetite for it.
4. CHARGE FOR ANALYTICS
Adopt the TiVo data model, said Alexander Gordon. Such a tool could include data about consumer sentiment: What kind of tone do the tweets have? What elements of a product are most often cited?
Comment: There’s no lack of companies using Twitter’s API to offer analytics. The question is whether anyone is willing to pay much, if any, for them.
5. ENABLE MOBILE PAYMENTS
It would make Twitter a $1 billion company overnight. That’s what entrepreneur Nate Westheimer concluded in an essay for Silicon Alley Insider, in which he noted that mobile users of Twitter already use machine language to communicate. “It would position Twitter to revolutionize how money is collected and exchanged on the internet,” he wrote.
Comment: Everyone talks a good game about w-commerce but wireless still has a long, long way to go.
6. CREATE SUBSCRIPTION-BASED GROUPS
Jim TerMarsch suggests Twitter could charge to be part of an affinity group of people who might want to follow a high-profile Twitterer: “Like J.J. Abrams fans — get them to pay to see what he’s thinking.”
Comment: Can’t see it happening.
7. A PRO VERSION
Mr. Calacanis bets 1% to 5% of Twitter users would pay for a version that had perks such as photo, video and music storage.
Comment: This is entirely possible depending on what kind of features Twitter offered.
8. MERCHANDISE
Create Twitter merchandise: T-shirts, messenger bags, scarves. Heck, Microsoft’s doing it — and people don’t even love that company.
Comment: Personally, I wouldn’t buy Twitter swag, and it wouldn’t generate much revenue. A marketing campaign, not a revenue source.
9. SELL IT TO GOOGLE OR MICROSOFT
The ability to send 140-characters-or-fewer messages via a web-based messaging service isn’t what makes Twitter valuable. It’s the social graph. So sell it to someone who needs one!
Comment: Google bought Jaiku to get into the microblogging market. If Microsoft bought Twitter, Twitter would die on the vine.
10. JUST SELL IT TO FACEBOOK
Comment: For the right price – $1-billion?? – it just might happen.
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10 Ways Twitter Can Make Money…or Not
AdAge’s Abbey Klaassen has some thoughts on how Twitter can make money. Let’s take a look at her list, and comment on her suggestions.
1. CHARGE FOR IT
Of course, companies can already use the service for free, so what, exactly, would be new? Ian Schafer, CEO of Deep Focus, has some ideas: more-customizable profile pages, a dashboard to manage followers and tech support.
Comment: It’s the easiest concept to understand but it’s unlikely anyone would pay much to use Twitter. You could maybe get $2 to $5 if Twitter was able to offer QoS guarantees and additional features such as file-sharing.
2. ADVERTISING!
“It wouldn’t be so bad,” wrote Jason Calacanis, if every 10th or 100th tweet was an ad. Graphical ads would really pop on the text-heavy page.
Comment: Judging from what Twitter co-founder Biz Stone said recently, it isn’t going to happen even though most users wouldn’t put up much of a fuss if Twitter did it.
3. CREATE A CONTEXTUAL AD ENGINE
Writes Jason D’Amata: “If I tweeted ‘Twilight,’ not only would Twitter be able to identify me as someone to serve a targeted (movie, book, culture, etc.) ad to … Twitter can take all the language of my tweets and have a working profile for me … à la Gmail.”
Comment: Again, advertising makes a lot of sense but Twitter has little public appetite for it.
4. CHARGE FOR ANALYTICS
Adopt the TiVo data model, said Alexander Gordon. Such a tool could include data about consumer sentiment: What kind of tone do the tweets have? What elements of a product are most often cited?
Comment: There’s no lack of companies using Twitter’s API to offer analytics. The question is whether anyone is willing to pay much, if any, for them.
5. ENABLE MOBILE PAYMENTS
It would make Twitter a $1 billion company overnight. That’s what entrepreneur Nate Westheimer concluded in an essay for Silicon Alley Insider, in which he noted that mobile users of Twitter already use machine language to communicate. “It would position Twitter to revolutionize how money is collected and exchanged on the internet,” he wrote.
Comment: Everyone talks a good game about w-commerce but wireless still has a long, long way to go.
6. CREATE SUBSCRIPTION-BASED GROUPS
Jim TerMarsch suggests Twitter could charge to be part of an affinity group of people who might want to follow a high-profile Twitterer: “Like J.J. Abrams fans — get them to pay to see what he’s thinking.”
Comment: Can’t see it happening.
7. A PRO VERSION
Mr. Calacanis bets 1% to 5% of Twitter users would pay for a version that had perks such as photo, video and music storage.
Comment: This is entirely possible depending on what kind of features Twitter offered.
8. MERCHANDISE
Create Twitter merchandise: T-shirts, messenger bags, scarves. Heck, Microsoft’s doing it — and people don’t even love that company.
Comment: Personally, I wouldn’t buy Twitter swag, and it wouldn’t generate much revenue. A marketing campaign, not a revenue source.
9. SELL IT TO GOOGLE OR MICROSOFT
The ability to send 140-characters-or-fewer messages via a web-based messaging service isn’t what makes Twitter valuable. It’s the social graph. So sell it to someone who needs one!
Comment: Google bought Jaiku to get into the microblogging market. If Microsoft bought Twitter, Twitter would die on the vine.
10. JUST SELL IT TO FACEBOOK
Comment: For the right price – $1-billion?? – it just might happen.
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