Twitter may charge businesses that tweet

By Steven Musil on 11 February 2009, 9:53am

It seems that Twitter may have figured out a way to make money.

Biz Stone, co-founder of the microblogging site, told Marketing magazine that his company is considering charging companies that use the service to market their brands.

"We are noticing more companies using Twitter, and individuals following them," Stone said. "We can identify ways to make this experience even more valuable and charge for commercial accounts."

While he declined to discuss how much Twitter would charge, Stone did say that individual users would not be charged.

Twitter said in a blog posting on Tuesday afternoon that it would "remain free to use by everyone -- individuals, companies, celebrities, etc".

"What we're thinking about is adding value in places where we are already seeing traction, not imposing fees on existing services. We are still very early in the idea stage and we don't have anything to share just yet, despite a recent surge in speculation. When we do, we'll be sure to let you know," the blog states.

Several companies have found a new revenue stream trickling out of the service. Fire-sale start-up Woot showed that it's possible to take advantage of Twitter's rapid-fire nature to advertise fleeting deals; and shoe retailer Zappos has received praise for using Twitter for customer service. Low-cost airline JetBlue also uses Twitter for both fare deals and customer service.

PC maker Dell, which has 80 different Twitter feeds and about 11,000 followers, has been experimenting with the service as a tool for customer service, public relations and now advertising. Dell revealed late last year that its 'Twitter sale alerts' have added up to about $1m (£690,000) in revenue.

However, Bob Pearson, vice president of communities and conversations at Dell, is quick to point out that the company isn't dependent on the service.

"If it becomes complicated and costly, our instinct would be to move elsewhere," Pearson told the magazine. Other companies questioned about such a pay-to-market scheme gave the magazine similar responses.

Twitter closed a $15m funding round in May, bringing its total funding to $20m, and is thought to be worth close to $250m.

You can follow the CNET UK Twitter feed here: @cnetuk.