Twitter planning to charge businesses for tweets

by Pierce King. Published Tue 24 Feb 2009 16:36

Twitter is planning to charge brands and businesses who use the micro-blogging website as a marketing tool.

Co-founder Biz Stone said "We are noticing more companies using Twitter and individuals following them.

"We can identify ways to make this experience even more valuable and charge for commercial accounts.

He would not be drawn on the level of charges or whether celebrities, such as Steven Fry, Jonathon Ross and Little Boots would be charged as they also use it to promote their activities.

Stone added that the scheme could also create revenue-generating features to tap into the way brands use Twitter as a hybrid marketing and customer-service tool.

But Bob Pearson, vice-president of communities and conversations at Dell, said: 'If it becomes complicated and costly, our instinct would be to move elsewhere.'

Robin Grant, managing director of social media agency We Are Social, said Twitter could charge for display ads or to access customer information for marketing.

Responding to a Twitter post asking whether they would continue to use the service if charged, brands were hesitant.

But DVD and game rental company LoveFilm said: "It would depend on price, demand and what else is around."

Stone insisted Twitter would not charge individual users.

* Twitter has raised about $20m in venture capital and is backed by Union Square Ventures, Digital Garage, Spark Capital, and Bezos Expeditions (led by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos).

* It is reported to have turned down a $500m acquisition offer from Facebook.

* A new round of venture capital funding is said to value Twitter at $250m.