Twitter was down tonight, nothing really unusual for the San Francisco based startup (to be fair though downtime has improved since they dumped Joyent), but what was different is some reports of users spotting ads in their Twitter stream during the service difficulties. There were no ads evident when I visited Twitter, which may indicate testing only in preparation for a broad-scale rollout
Twitter has long been the poster child for the often controversial Valley mantra of build an audience first, and the business model will follow that has been copied by Seesmic and others. Founded in March 2006 and with its most recent round in July 2007 at $5.7 million, Twitter has grown to cult status among its growing user base, but hasn’t earned a cent.
Occasional ads in the Twitter timeline, in a similar fashion to what Twitteriffic users currently see (Twitteriffic runs their own ads on the free version) seems like the only real way to monetize Twitter, aside for premium subscriptions. The only question remaining is how Twitter users will accept the move after a two year free ride.
- No, keep it ad free
- Yes
- Yes/ No, but I’d pay for an ad free version
Total Votes: 2555
Started: April 14, 2008
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Any idea why they don’t wait till later in the evening to perform site updates?
While I can’t see paying a cent to use the Twitter service, I wouldn’t mind seeing ads every 5 tweets or so. The twitter user’s photo could easily be replaced with that of a sponsor logo. Another thing they could do is monetize a user’s mention of a movie, song or product by linking into an associate-supported program like Amazon’s and collect referral revenue.
I’m sure they’ll figure out a discreet way to monetize and keep the service very enjoyable for many of us.
I wonder if Twitter can make money by premium membership. Premium member messages would be placed at the top of the web timeline and RSS feeds. Just a thought.
Ahh, so that’s why Twitter was slow earlier…
I’d buy some advertising. Can I hit only one account? I’d love to spam @jasoncalacanis
Let’s just hope that they are recognizable. Too bad for Twitter, I think that ads on Twitter will probably monetize similar to social networks. In fact, it may be worse. Myself and probably many others have become very adept at ignoring or passing by lame comments. This skipping skill will become even more valuable if ads are included in the stream.
I’m growing more and more attached to my twitter account. It’s the only social networking tool and site I’ve ever really put any time and effort into. I also realize that in order for a company to keep a popular service like that alive, they have to generate some sort of revenue.
A topical ad tastefully placed here and there in the timeline wouldn’t bother me in the least.
It was going to happen sooner or later.. These guys were looking for a business model and now they are going back2basic by just selling the advertisement space. You can’t expect a company like twitter to live of VC funds only. Eventually a moneymaker has to be in place for them to survive and show that you can actually make money out of the business..
why sell advertising - ok obvious reasons, for revenue. but why not have a channel for classifieds - dailytwitter will… people post classifieds. twitter display classifieds.
I don’t mind maybe text ads on the site - but in the feeds?
No.
The feeds are advertisements already for the most part. I’m sure Twitter has added to your overall hits… as well as anybody else that has an account and a site to market. Advertising through sociality is wonderful, as long as it’s not overt and spamtastic… but we don’t need paid chunks slipping into all of our feeds. I’ll be leaving just as fast as I entered if this happens.
a premium version might work if it supported me sending attachment payloads: video, photos, etc.
ads on twitter are a sketchy idea at best.
Twitter uptime for March 2008. Compare that with March 2007.
I wouldn’t mind limited advertising. But I suppose that content targeting would be extremely difficult given the non-focussed content on any given Twitter page.
vote free. keep it free. So I can do some ad la.LOL. I need it. China Travel and Hotel.
Looking at the usage percentage of Twitterific (A Mac Twitter Client), I honestly feel that people are ready to accept advertisements for the good service of Twitter. I’m pretty sure, many people will convert to a Pro (paid) account if Twitter introduces one that have no ads.
The irony is for clients like Twitterific which relies on Ads for the free version. What will happen to those Paid-Twitterific-Free-Twitter users?
They had to do it sooner or later, but I agree that it may be premature.
My question — how do they target the ads? Geo-targeting is sexiest when devices are involved, but it’s not a location aware app. And they don’t know that much about users barring what meta data they provide in the “About” fields. So it makes one wonder to what extent they can use that information to permit targeted campaigns.
Screenshot’s here:
http://flickr.com/photos/flypi.....0/sizes/o/
The URL in the yellow box:
http://s3.amazonaws.com/twitte.....witter.jpg
Twitter I thought you were so stupid and now Im addicted!
We see companies like Comcast using Twitter to monitor brand and provide better service. Maybe Twitter should lock up this data and sell access to such to big companies.
for the record, i’m innocent and did not break twitter tonight. turns out the URL to my background image for Twitter was featured randomly in a yellow box at the top of the timeline and got mistaken for an ad.
this is what was on that yellow box:
http://s3.amazonaws.com/twitte.....witter.jpg
here’s a screenshot taken by @flypig of that yellow box with the URL. i’m not sure if it’s clickable but it opens up to this image, which is the background of my twitter page.
very strange. had i known it was going to be picked at random or included randomly as part of a glitch…i would have re-designed a better background page! LOL.
Christine
the second source didn’t see your image, but it is all a bit bizarre. Either way, ads are coming, just a matter of when.
oh..its not good..Twitter how can you do this to us…
I’d pay $10-15 a year for no ads and better uptime. Don’t think companies like Comcast, Dell or Southwest are going to pay to access the user base. In most cases the people in charge of the purse strings don’t get it. I don’t understand why people think stuff should be free just because its on the Internet. You pay for water right? Everytime you flush your toilet it costs you a quarter. If water isn’t free what should be?
“If water isn’t free what should be?”
The antithesis of brilliance.
Its not too bad to see ads on Twitter.
I think the combination of advertising with a paid premium account (without ads and with some extra perks) would make the most sense for Twitter.
It had to happen sooner or later; it must cost them boatloads of cash each month to keep the service running.
I’d support seeing ads in the Twitter-stream if there was a paid/pro version, in the same vein as Pownce.
If some of the revenue is used to get the service running like clockwork, fine by me! The guys @twitter need to earn a crust too ….
Ads are an abomination anywhere. I never want ads forced on me. If they appear in the stream then I hope that clients will provided ways of filtering them out (I am sure that they will, especially if the ads are intrusive and badly targetted)
Your life ‘is’ one big advertisment! look around, there nothing new…
It’s you self centered, ” I hate life” people that suck the fun out of twitter…Not future ads!
Is twitter driving traffic to your site? Is it making you money? It is for me, so I wouldn’t mind some ads on twitter! Ads have been here before you and they will be here after you, GET OVER IT!
Drat - Well, ok. Knew the drugs were going to be free for awhile. I’m too hooked to go cold turkey. Need the twitter fix.
Ads / no ads / electroshock / whatever
How can 140 characters be so addictive????
Advertising doesn’t work well with social networks, and Twitter won’t be an exception. I think, they are able to develop a better business model. For the start, let they simply add premium accounts with absolutely no benefits apart from the fact that it is ‘premium’. A large part of Twitter userbase love the service so much, it will buy premium subscription just for the sake of supporting twitter; others will pay simply for the ‘elite’ status of premium subscriber. Certainly, Twitter won’t get lot’s of revenue out of such a ‘business model’, but it’ll give it some time and money to develop something more viable…
Imagine that, an online service trying to generate revenue as opposed to just offering its service for free. Wonders never cease.
Seriously, this is something Twitter has to do. For people how don’t like to see ads, how many of them would be willing to pay $20/year for an ad-free version? That’s the really interesting question.
Someone please explain to me why I should care or why anyone would care what the f*ck I am doing every 5 minutes? I don’t get Twitter.
As much as I hate ads and subscription fees, Twitter should go to a freemium model. Just no blinking ads and keep the subscription fees low.
I think some freemium services, such as 37signals’, are too expensive and I won’t use. Maybe Jason has the revenue and profit optimized how he wants, plus a 4-day work week, but they charge too much for a frugal founder like me. Then again I’m pretty extreme: sitting here with my toes sticking out of holes in my socks, eating a bowl of musli and yogurt, drinking a glass of water, typing on a $379 laptop.
I can’t imagine why anyone would begrudge a small amount of non-invasive advertising in their TwitterStream, in order to keep the service free. Note the two caveats.
Ads on Twitter!? How dare they try to implement a revenue model! The users will revolt! A twitt-olution is in the works! Everyone, to your keypads! We’ll create a stink so big, they’ll smell it all the way out in Shallow Alto!
Twitt-olution I said!
ADS on Twitter jejeje wow!
There are just ads everywhere, so I’m not sure what’s the deal with having ads on Twitter. Honestly, I think 90% of Twitter users wouldn’t mind seeing some ads here and there, but they have to be great ads, not stupid ads like “Get an Ipod free!”
I don´t speak english
then.. i don´t understand
my twitter: juanuuu xD
added this post to http://www.tectrnd.com
cheers
My inclination is to support it, afterall it is a free service. But I suppose this means those of us who are using the free twitteriffic app will soon see multiple ads from twitteriffic as well as from twitter. That sounds crappy.
ads, don’t look at um! “Get a life”! Follow me you might learn something. I wish twitter would make a way to filter people like you out!
I love Twitter! It has become my addiction. I must say that paying for it is not exactly ideal for me, but I probably would. But, if in order for it to keep on being free all I have to do is put up with advertising so that it can stay up and running I gladly will (unless of course the ad content works in detriment of whatever factor makes the site a success).
I agree with John Lynn…ads for Twitter will not monetize well. They should give the premium membership a shot…from what Dave Winer says, it seems to be working pretty well for Pownce (although I’m shocked that company has survived for as long as it has…must be the Kevin Rose factor). I view their business as structurally identical to IM. It is very valuable, but only in the context of what a larger company will be able to do with it.
I just got an email from Twitter confirming that there are _no_ ads on the site. Time to call back the dogs…
they could use a tweetscan like service to make the ads relevant, and in that case i could care less (e.g. i’d love to see ads for local concerts, that would never bother me, or local coupons and entertainment discounts)
hey, they’ve got to make money, so who cares?
The ads have to be in the stream, rather than on the Twitter page, to make the service work. For example, I normally access Twitter via a mobile browser, and m.twitter.com usually doesn’t show the text that the others see.
The important thing is to introduce the ads based upon the number of tweets, rather than upon the number of elapsed calendar hours/days. I’m a fairly frequently Twitter user, but if I weren’t, I would be hopping mad if I encountered an ad every time I peeked at the service. One ad per five tweets sounds too frequent to me (I’d prefer 1 per 20), but I could live with it.
Nope, not true. http://www.alleyinsider.com/20.....reams_nope
Awesome journalism Duncan. You made up a story and SAI exposed you.
http://www.alleyinsider.com/20.....reams_nope
Twitter should be allowed to monetize the service by inserting ads. However, it should be done in a non-obtrusive way. For one thing I wouldn’t want to get ads over sms!
I would be willing to pay for an ad free version.
Twitter! Twitter! Twitter! Twitter! Twitter! Twitter! Twitter! Twitter! Twitter! Twitter! Twitter! Twitter! Twitter! Twitter! Twitter! Twitter! Twitter! Twitter! Twitter! Twitter! Twitter! Twitter! Twitter! Twitter! Twitter! Twitter! Twitter! Twitter! Twitter! Twitter! Twitter! Twitter! Twitter! Twitter! Twitter! Twitter! Twitter! Twitter! Twitter! Twitter! Twitter! Twitter! Twitter! Twitter! Twitter! Twitter! Twitter! Twitter! Twitter! Twitter! Twitter! Twitter! Twitter! Twitter! Twitter! Twitter! Twitter! Twitter! Twitter! Twitter! Twitter! Twitter! Twitter! Twitter!
STOP IT ALREADY!!!!
I would not be adverse to ads on Twitter as long as it didn’t overshadow the content which is why we are all there. Ads on Facebook don’t bother me as they are secondary to everything else on the pages.
Side note to Henry/Duncan: Think it worthy to mention you cannot judge uptime from March 2007 to March 2008 without taking into consideration they have had a year to refine the app, which would absolutely have an effect on how stable it is, and how it scales.
Disclosure: I work for Joyent -and- I use Twitter every single day as they are a large part of what I do (Community Relations). I absolutely want to see them succeed, and am happy they are doing well. Really. Their app wasn’t happy on our platform. Ok. They moved on. Ok. What makes that worthy of mention every single time you mention Twitter?
I would be happy to put you in contact with the folks at MLB.com, Oprah, myLATimes.com and others - all pushing more data through Joyent’s infrastructure than Twitter did, and all very happy Joyent clients.
@#8
yeah, i’d love to see a classified section on twitter, especially an escort sub-section where my favorite pimp could provide live updates on his hookers availabilities.