How will Twitter make money?

Posted on 16/10/2009 by Rich Adams
Lab News, Twitter

With Twitter's top brass moving quickly to quash rumours of real-time video tweets, the spotlight is again shining on the question of how exactly Twitter will create a successful business model.

It’s an interesting proposition. Everybody seems to want get in on the action - with many third parties now creating applications, such as Twitpic, to varying degrees of success. Other businesses simply use it to gauge their public reputations, while consumers can read real product opinions before they take the plunge themselves. But what’s Twitters plan?

The smart money is on Twitter setting up some kind of e-commerce platform. If consumers are using Twitter to review products, it stands to reason that they might want to purchase them too. This, however, raises the thorny subject of how they can guarantee the credibility of tweets in an e-com environment…  A question they may not be able to answer convincingly!

It remains to be seen how Twitter will move forward. Many high profile twits, such as Lily Allen and Miley Cyrus, have already (very publically) closed their accounts. Twitter could easily view this as a minor irritation (caused by a pair of minor irritations) in the face of its recent $1bn valuation, but it needs to get moving with a coherent plan before its popularity fizzles out.