As more and more of the world becomes obsessed with Twitter and being able to tell strangers what they’ve scoffed for breakfast, wherever they are, the issue of how Twitter plans to make money raises its head once again. Twitter’s talked about charging businesses before, but now it’s revamped its terms of service, stating ads are OK by it too. Is it about to flick the switch on adverts?
Twitter’s been monitoring how people use the microblogging service over the years, and it’s just revised its terms of service agreement to tweak the rules a bit – you’ll now own copyright of your tweets, which is handy, but the big news is that the fineprint opens the door for advertising.
Are text ads headed to Twitter? It’s not confirmed anything, but co-founder Biz Stone says they want to “keep our options open”, so it’s something that’s definitely being looked at. The question is just how intrusive they would be, and whether they’d appear in your streams through Twitter clients, as apps like Tweetie currently practice. The terms say that any advertising would be “subject to change” though, so Twitter can pick and choose as it pleases.
We’ll let you know more when we hear it, but based on recent rumblings, a proper Twitter business plan can’t be far from official now.
Out TBC | £TBC | Twitter
