Businesses Split on Paying for Twitter
One-quarter ready for paid business functionality
April 13, 2010
| Social Media
The powers that be at Twitter have been vague about how they plan to monetize the service. As marketers have flocked to the microblogging site, Twitter has considered charging for business functionality as one possibility.
According to a survey commissioned by Internet marketing solutions company WebBizIdeas.com, a plurality of business users of Twitter are unsure whether they would pay to use extra business features on the site. About one-quarter said they would.
Defining what those extra features might be as well as how much they would cost could push less decisive business users into one camp or another. Among respondents who said they would pay, most were willing to spend less than $50 per month.
In addition, 8% of all respondents said they would pay for analytics alone, if Twitter offered that service.
Advertising, another possibility for Twitter monetization, may have more appeal. Businesses were largely uninterested in advertising tactics that would increase their follower count, but nearly seven in 10 respondents said pay-for-performance ads would bring the greatest value for them.
While marketers have jumped on the Twitter bandwagon in large numbers, they are still focusing on quantifying their own social media results. If Twitter does roll out paid business services, companies will be sure to think of their own ROI before shelling out.
Update: Twitter announced its "Promoted Tweets" ad program on April 13, which will include sponsored tweets in search results.