Have you heard about the latest Twitter Hoax?

Apparently some jokesters convinced many in the Twitter community (including one well-known internet marketer who will go unnamed) that Twitter would soon introduce PAID premium accounts.

The accounts would range from $5 – $250 a month, and would include features such as:

• Higher character limit
• Free “random followers”
• Listing on the “Recommended People To Follow” list
• Celebrity followers…

…and more!

The hoax was “outed” almost immediately and everyone had a good laugh about it.

But it got me thinking…is this really such a bad idea?

I mean, obviously some of the premium features bordered on the ridiculous, but is it really such a bad idea for a Social Media property to offer a paid continuity option for premium/business users?

By most estimates, Twitter has over 1 MILLION users and is growing at an insane rate. And for a company that still doesn’t have a viable business model, this hoax idea seems as good as any.

Imagine if Twitter had a $4.95 a month Premium account that had additional features such as:

• Higher character limit (maybe 200 instead of 140)
• Ability to “highlight” your tweets (i.e. change the background color)
• Directory/category listing (of course, this would require them to first create categories)

I can guarantee you I’d buy it!

And I’m probably not alone. And with over 1 MILLION users (and counting), that $4.95 a month would add up pretty quickly.

I realize any mention of profits or capitalism is heresy to the Social Media community, but eventually all these free services will need some sort of sustainable business model or they’ll all fold up and die.

I for one say “Bring On Twitter Premium!”

What do you think? Please let me know by commenting below.