Can all that Twitters turn to gold amid gloom?


http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29183971/page/2/
Michael Liedtke
Associated Press
Updated 3:30 p.m. ET, Sun., Feb. 15, 2009
Twitter is referred to by many people including myself as the “post-it” notes of the social networking sites. The genius behind Twitter is that they limit messages to only 140 keystrokes, which makes for some interesting messages and information. The problem that Twitter is having is not with popularity, fan base or ingenuity however, it’s generating revenue that is posing a problem. The sites founders say that Twitter will begin testing ways to generate revenue this spring. They also stated that the ads and other marketing campaigns put in place on the site won’t drive away the over 6 million current Twitter users.

Twitter is obviously banking on their newfound interest in advertising and generating more revenue to be a success after rejecting a 500 million dollar offer from Facebook to buy them out just three months ago. They have generated over 20 million in venture capital so far, and as such aren’t desperate to generate revenue just yet, however having that steady flow of income would make them even more attractive to potential investors/buyers.

If Twitter is going to be successful in generating more revenue than it currently does, it needs to find a way to make the website itself appeal to potential advertisers rather than companies creating a Twitter account to let people know of promotions and other deals going on. Companies like Dell and Zappos use Twitter for informing customers of these promotions and for getting feedback. But they won’t necessarily stay on board if Twitter begins imposing fees on businesses.