You must have heard the rumours:
“Google is buying Twitter, please retweet”
“No they’re not, Apple is, pls RT”
Well, according to Business Insider, co-founder Biz Stone was on US programme ‘The View’ yesterday and emphatically stated “We are not for sale”.
With the big boys allegedly waiting to pounce, in my mind it can only be a matter of time before they have to monetise Twitter somehow – don’t forget that there are investors waiting for a return on their investment – and I don’t think the Adwords style ads that are showing on profiles at the moment is the final answer.
There have been rumours of charging for business accounts (something I’m all for as long as it is reasonable and not set so high that it discourages businesses trying Twitter out) for a while, so maybe that’s the way to go.
Ads in your Twitterstream? I don’t like the idea, but maybe it would work.
Business Insider think that Microsoft should buy them – I’m not sure I’m keen on that idea, and from what the Twitter co-founders are saying, they won’t be selling up any time soon.
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We’re looking for examples of businesses that have gained business from Twitter – if you have a Twitter account and can track a sale / contract / opportunity as coming directly from Twitter, and would like to be featured on Business on Twitter, please drop me a line to nikki@nikkipilkington.com
I think that the twitter community will be glad if twitter remains independent. Twitter has its own culture and attracts a certain demographic. A change of ownership will probably isolate a large number of users. Hope it stays independent. Rgds Vince