Let me first say that I don’t use Twitter. I see why people like it and I see why it is popular. I’m not one of those curmudgeons who bemoans its use, I just have enough things to keep up with. Someday, I’ll hope on the proverbial bandwagon.
Even though I don’t use it, it’s hard to do much anymore without hearing about it. Whenever there is a news event now, it seems like people are tweeting about it or the source came from a tweet (ala Jeff Goldblum’s non-death).
So, yes, Twitter is popular. And everyone has been speculating on how Twitter is going to make money, because as of now, they are surviving on VC dollars and the hope of making money down the road. A quick search on google will give you an idea as to how people have tried to make their own revenue model for Twitter.
Most of these models rely on some sort of ad delivery system, which is a pretty standard way to make dough. However, given the large number of people who use Twitter indirectly via the API, most ads within the page will not be seen by the users. That leaves you with putting ads in the tweets themselves, which will probably do nothing but make users feel as if their privacy has been invaded by a door-to-door salesman who just happened to show up in their Twitter feed.
So, I say let’s make Twitter a non-profit, much in the way that Wikipedia works. Just like Wikipedia, Twitter has totally user generated content. Also, they are both excellent data sources in their own way. Wikipedia for more historical data, Twitter for more transient and current opinions.
I think with a large passionate user base like Twitter, raising funds to keep it going would not be too hard. I also think it would allow them to keep developing a platform that is good for the community at large instead of business stakeholders who want a return on their money. Twitter is a good platform and I’d hate to see them go down because of a lack of monetary plan or, even worse, because it alienates its users by pumping in ads where they are not wanted.
Let’s get those dollar signs out of your eyes and do something reasonable. So, Twitter Foundation, anyone?
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