Twitter-founder Biz Stone announced yesterday that the site plans to introduce premium features for corporate accounts, including tracking an analytics.
This is the first time Twitter has offered concrete plans for a business model that includes revenue, rather than relying on the generosity of investors. In his interview with the Chicago Tribune, Stone avoided disclosing any details about plans for launching these new services, other than the timeline that set their debut for the end of the year.
Even with the new features available, Twitter will still be free for all users, including businesses, but that the new pay-only features would help businesses keep track of followers and monitor traffic. While remaining vague, Stone said that the premium services would help businesses “become better Twitterers”.
Twitter enthusiasts are cautiously optimistic of the announcement, which comes a few months after a bbspot.com article announcing similar (but outlandish) plans was revealed to be a hoax.
From a marketing standpoint, Twitter’s upcoming features open up a range of possibilities for strengthening social media campaigns. Businesses will likely be better equipped to target and attract interested followers. They will receive constant feedback and thus be more able to maintain effective strategies for the content and schedule of their tweets. Overall, this is good news for companies aiming to maximize their social media presence.
