The Web was buzzing Thursday with reports that Twitter is (again) toying with the idea of adding paid features to the service.
The Wall Street Journal reports that Twitter co-founder Biz Stone has hired a product manager to develop accounts for businesses that would cost a fee to use, but would include more features. What those features might be has not been disclosed.
The popular microblogging platform is currently free for users, which can include individuals or businesses. Right now, the 160-character limit is being used in many ways. That can include pushing a product ("Try my improved widget for sale at this URL") or letting followers know what's going on ("Practiced transcendental meditation").
Last month, Twitter's blog acknowledged that the growing use of Twitter by companies, brands and other commercial organizations was not going unnoticed: "It's great that both individuals and organizations are finding value in Twitter and there may be ways we can enrich the experience. In fact, we hope to begin iterating on revenue products this year."
Perhaps a step in that direction was the debut Monday of ExecTweet. ExecTweet is a Federated Media venture, sponsored by Microsoft. Its aim is to provide executives a more focused social media experience. Twitter gets a cut of Federated's revenue (that it gets from the Microsoft sponsorship). So far, ExecTweet is also a free service.
In that same February post, Twitter did its best to reassure users that it would not charge for services it currently offers: "whatever we come up with, Twitter will remain free to use by everyone—individuals, companies, celebrities, etc. What we're thinking about is adding value in places where we are already seeing traction, not imposing fees on existing services."
