Paid Twitter Accounts To Debut This Year, Says Stone

Corporate Twitter accounts are still on the way, and should be introduced by the end of this year, according to cofounder Biz Stone. Stone chatted a little more about these accounts – along with the company’s problematic growth rate – while on a NESTA panel in London.

"One of the first things we are going to do explicitly is commercial accounts," Stone said, as reported by the BBC. He then (re)confirmed some of the rumors and ideas that have been floating around, adding, "Twitter will always be free to everyone but you will be able to pay for an additional layer of access to learn more about your Twitter account – get some feedback, some analytics, become a better Twitterer."

This development should come as a big relief to Twitter’s backers. Over time, the site’s lack of a business model has gone from being something of a laughing matter to (at least in some corners) acting as a cause for serious concern. Also, the fact that firms like Compete and Hitwise believe Twitter’s growth has ceased hasn’t helped.

Stone had something to say about that, too, however. Twitter’s "continuing to grow very fast from an international and a mobile perspective," he stated.

And it’s quite possible that the introduction of paid accounts will help Twitter generate more interest within the business community, anyway.

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There are 5 Comments. Add Yours.

David Spinks
November 19, 2009 at 2:31 pm

About time! This definitely sounds like something that businesses will be interested in. I wonder what will happen to all of the 3rd party apps that have been providing twitter statistics for users. I’m assuming twitter will just take a page out of their books.

Also, it seems pretty funny that people are relying on compete to determine twitter‘s growth…they’re hardly accurate from what I’ve seen.

David
Community Manager, Scribnia.com
Albert Maruggi
November 19, 2009 at 2:46 pm

of course I’ll pay and so with others for:

1) Who is online when? Look Twitter is printed radio with a digital paper trail so let me know who of my followers are online and I’ll tweet accordingly. Or as a business I’ll tailor my tweetstream or reach out to individuals, now that’s cool and effective.

2) The almighty # . Business wants to know what is being said and by who? OK so they get that with every other measurement device, but they don’t get the real time aspect nor the ability to efficiently have a, or establish a, relationship.

3) Third party tracking – ok so forget the relationship to me, just track me as some psychographic, community member with all of the associated analytics that go along with it. Companies pay for that kind of number crunching and it’s a data stream that doesn’t lie to them unlike some other methods that attempt to get to the same end.

that’s enough you’ve already thought of this I”m sure. just weighing in.
Good Luck – Long Live Twitter
SEO basics
November 19, 2009 at 3:06 pm

I am very anxious to see what Twitter has to offer with their premium accounts.
Ginger
November 20, 2009 at 4:14 am

Sounds like it would possibly increase Twitter’s credibility in business circles. Hopefully, such paid accounts also would not be subject to suspension without warning, either.
Gin
November 22, 2009 at 10:32 am

I think it would be interesting for Twitter to provide some sort of *Alert* system like Googles both paid and free just different numbers? so people know if they are getting discussed or creating a sensation, interesting idea and for corporations and prospective business model.