Twitter Adopts a Business Model

When it leaped to popularity in the last couple of years, Twitter joined a long list of popular internet ventures without a business model. They have some elite company. Amazon spent years thrashing around for a business model that would work. So did Google. So people have been waiting with bated breath for Twitter to act.

Yesterday, Twitter announced its model. As expected, it is an advertising model, centering around the concept of "promoted tweets." "Users will start seeing paid messages, which will be labeled "promoted," at the top of some Twitter.com search results pages," said Twitter co-founder Biz Stone. "Initially, as many as 10% of users will see the promoted messages. Twitter will work with Best Buy, Bravo, Red Bull, Sony Pictures, Starbucks and Virgin America to roll out the first ads," he said.

Whether Twitter's new plan will work is an open question for the present. It depends on how Twits react as well as how much value advertisers see in the program. It has a decent chance for success though, given the immense coverage of Twitter. There's more about this in Computerworld.