Nothing stays free forever. Nor should it! Twitter is planning to charge brands for using the micro-blogging website. Biz Stone told Marketing Mag: 'We are noticing more companies using Twitter and individuals following them. We can identify ways to make this experience even more valuable and charge for commercial accounts.'
Since Twitter launched in 2006 it has been searching for a way to make money. This powerful conversation eco-system is serving as a place where people are listening and giving corporations input on everything from product launches to service outages.
As an avid user of the platform I often pondered how this incredibly flexible ecosystem was making money. I came of age during the Web 1.0 boom & bust. Remember all those peer-to-peer shops? Who doesn't? Why did most fail? Not from lack of creativity. It was simply because they were not making money.
Today's economic climate is no different. Making cash, when there is no credit, is the most important thing any Web 2.0 company can do. It is not enough to host user data unles it is netting you a profit.
Twitter should charge anyone using the site for commecial purposes a fee. Its silly not to. MySpace & YouTube do.
In a world where "loyalty" is dead - the big question is - what is a conversation worth to your company/product/service if your able to keep a customer engaged?