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.
March 25th, 2009 at 5:57 pm
When I first read it I thought it was an odd way to monetize twitter, until I got to the celebrity followers part then it was an obvious hoax.
The highlighted tweets and extra characters would be worth $4.95 for sure, though its never going to happen.
March 25th, 2009 at 6:17 pm
Its difficult to increase the character count because the messages won’t fit in a single text message meaning you would receive 2 text messages sometimes and have to pay more if you aren’t on unlimited messaging packs.
…but agree with other points and Twitter needs a business model as it can’t keep funding going just on VC investment.
Marty
March 25th, 2009 at 6:19 pm
Hey Ryan,
I know I would buy it in a heartbeat! That’s not a bad idea…with alot of talk shows talking about Twitter now, your sure to get a lot of exposure if you Tweets and twitter profile stick out!
Just my 2 cents!
Dontrell
March 25th, 2009 at 6:21 pm
Hi Ryan, I posed this question about 1 month ago and no one said they would pay for either facebook or twitter. I personally would probably pay $20 a month for twitter, but I seemed to be among the VERY few. Who knows time will tell. Tell my boy Perry(twitter rockstar) that I said “hi”
March 25th, 2009 at 6:27 pm
I have no problem with it.
Remember the outrage when goto.com (later overture.com and then Yahoo search) started offering paid search listings? This was back in ‘98, so many of the “youngsters” here might not recall this but it was a HUGE deal.
There was no Google and this was just before the buildup of the .com bubble. However, it was one of the few business models that survived and even thrived after that bubble burst. Free market capitalism (with NO government intervention) works every time it’s tried.
Just my two rapidly depreciating cents…
March 25th, 2009 at 6:28 pm
Solid idea. The simple fact is one of sustainability. The Whale has to eat. If it continually runs aground, it will eventually be beached for good. Facebook’s implementation of some Twitteresque features points out that the pack is going to eat the weak, even if they were the first to tweet. So to speak. A nomininal upgrade option would generate some revenue. Even in a social community, someone has to earn some money.
March 25th, 2009 at 6:30 pm
Ryan, I think you are dead on! I agree with you and even though I do not have an advertising budget this would definitely be a service that I would pay for. Great concept…is this something you are possibly discussing with twitter?!?
All the best to you!
March 25th, 2009 at 6:32 pm
are you kiddin me? that makes waaay too much sense, i’d much rather have some sort adword, post roll, pre roll or whatever so i can have free stuff!the internet is free, right? when the vc’s say ok fellas it’s time to monetize the tweeter’s will raise hell!!
March 25th, 2009 at 6:32 pm
@Ryan
Well I think it’s a matter of ideology for Twitter. As soon as they atart filtering out ads (which this premium account would be) and display them differently it will turn into a marketplace.
Can you remember when AdWords really start being appart of everybodies awareness peoples opinion of Google started to change - did Google really not do evil started people asking themselves. Google were no longer the next door nabo who helped you find stuff. Google was a big company. When we (i.e the majority) realized that, the opinion changed.
Therefor I think that @ev and his folks are planning to wait to spoil the party until there are more users on Twitter. Maybe they wont even spoil the party - ideological.
Winum
March 25th, 2009 at 6:34 pm
Well, I would assume that the Twitter community would be all for a premium service; otherwise, it probably wouldn’t have spread quite as fast.
As for the article being a hoax, that’s a bit of a misnomer. Not only was the entire thing very firmly tongue in cheek, but every single article on that website (including the Twitter Premium one) states that it is a work of satire. There was no intent to deceive; that’s just a happy benefit for the owner of the site.
That somebody would go to great lengths to make fun of Twitter’s lack of a business plan is just another point in favor of them having something like that.
March 25th, 2009 at 6:35 pm
I’ll admit that when I saw “unnamed well-known internet marketer” tweet about paid services for Twitter….I RT’d…lol
But I was mocking it. I don’t think that’d be a good idea because it would isolate those who don’t have the service. Then those people would be further ignored and left in the dust. Yes a cool background color for tweets would be nice, but then it’d get annoying if there was a rainbow spectrum on the home feed.
Twitter is by far the best social media site I’ve seen, probably because of it’s quick and easy format. If they take that away - the tides may turn again to another source.
Oh and one more thing - if they made it a premium service…they might setup something stupid like “free members not being able to tweet with paid members”. Then that would take out the “attraction marketing” aspect of Twitter. (and that would hurt alot of up-and-coming marketer’s as well as established ones). Just my two pennies.
Mike Morgan.
March 25th, 2009 at 6:36 pm
I think it’s an awful idea. And goes against what social media is. Right now social media is the great equalizer. I get to say in so many characters exactly what the CEO of a big corporation gets to say.
Making it so some get more than others based on what you can pay means the message now goes to the highest bidder. You will see common folks start to drop out.
March 25th, 2009 at 6:43 pm
I think that it would actually be a pretty cool service. I’ve just started out on Twitter, so I’m not sure I would drink the koolaid quite yet. Even if only 1% of the people signed up they would be making around 50 grand a month.
March 25th, 2009 at 6:46 pm
I have to agree - this is a great idea and I’d absolutely be in. I do think tho that it’d be wrong to get more “exposure” (ie buy your way to the top) for a premium price. The pull of social media is that anyone can gain equal exposure - money can’t buy everything (well that’s the idea LOL).
March 25th, 2009 at 6:49 pm
I think it’s a great idea! I love it actually.
How about being able to automatically message those that typed in a keyword combination (or something like that)
I imagine I could brainstorm a lot of possibilities.
Long live capitalism.
and why is it that capitalism is looked upon as evil. Don’t people see that that attitude itself is evil. HHHmmm how to change the world’s attitude on capitalism.
Phil
March 25th, 2009 at 6:51 pm
I agree that having optional premium services makes sense.
The amount of recurring revenue a Twitter or Facebook could make is simply staggering.
Facebook already derives massive revenue from Facebook Ads http://www.facebook.com/advertising/ - but a premium membership with upgraded features could catch on like wildfire.
College kids are insane about facebook so if a few start using the premium - others would quickly follow (assuming it was cheap - $4.95 per month as you said).
The bigger idea us little guys can take away is building killer web-based software is an AMAZING way to get MAXIMUM leverage and MASSIVE recurring income.
Selling access to web-based software sure beats selling “info only” on a monthly basis.
Finding the right software developer(s) to partner with is one of the smartest things you could ever do.
Think about it.
TTF
March 25th, 2009 at 6:57 pm
I would have some doubts about it Ryan, you know “if it’s not broke don’t fix it”. I think it might start to take on the feel of a forum. (i.e. Warrior Forum) You would have to add on a whole pile of rules so it wouldn’t be abused. I could be wrong and it would turn out great. You could suggest the idea and see if they be willing to do a beta test with an outeide company, just a thought.
March 25th, 2009 at 6:59 pm
Not unless they throw in that fail-whale tuxedo. LOL
Cheers,
Scot
March 25th, 2009 at 7:00 pm
I would prefer Not to pay for a premium account. In actuality though, I would support a Premium account with Twitter instead of a “free” account with 25 ads shoved into my face. I don’t mind an ad or two to support the business model, but will always prefer to pay than be overloaded with ads.
Thanks,
Clifton Wilson
CliftonWilson.com
Follow me on Twitter.com/CliffW326
March 25th, 2009 at 7:00 pm
Ryan - I’m sure this is in the works. When this grows up and becomes a real business it will surely happen. There will more than likely be paid ads and PPC (which I can’t wait for). That’s why so many people were probably fooled by this. How much longer can this last for free anyway? BTW - who needs to follow Shaq or other celebs. What a total waste of time. For me this is all about business - I don’t care if my bro is eating a pizza!
March 25th, 2009 at 7:06 pm
Ryan, it doesn’t matter whether the social media sites consider themselves just that, in the back of their minds I am sure they are all operating on a business model of some kind so to that end I think it will only be time before they want to see some sort of money making happening. I for one love twitter and am still in the knowing what to do for my business marketing stage but if there was a cost effective plan that would add benefit to my business then I would be for it.
Happy travelling!
March 25th, 2009 at 7:08 pm
I didn’t know it was a hoax but when i read the original, I thought that what they were talking about was kind of useless. About the only way I would pay for twitter is if they had some way to sort and group followers and followees (you know what I mean)into categories. I know that the goal is to get as many followers as possible but most mere mortals have to follow a lot of people to have a lot of followers. This makes it almost impossible to find and read the tweets that are important to me. I really hate the fact that the goofball marketers are now plastering buy my product tweets all over the place. These would be the first to go on my list. Now I just unfollow them, not ideal but the only option. Marketing tweets will ruin twitter, but there is always the unfollow option.
March 25th, 2009 at 7:12 pm
I personally think it’s a great way for Twitter to monetise their huge user base - isn’t that the main idea at the end of it all?
It’s not like they would be selling useless services - you said yourself that you would sign up for it!
Twitter are missing out on a huge deal of money if you ask me - a lot of these social media sites are in fact.
Perhaps I should offer them some sort of idea implementation + revshare deal…
Cheers Ryan,
AJ
March 25th, 2009 at 7:13 pm
I’d be all in. I really don’t understand why Twitter hasn’t already done this, not to mention why Social Connection Sites like Twitter seem so reluctant to do so. The model is sound and proven in many great businesses, so why are so many of them apparently afraid of it?
March 25th, 2009 at 7:14 pm
Ryan - take a look at this Video interview with owner of Twitter on CNBC today. Revenue models are coming, you can count on it. So, “chatter” and “noise” is understandable.
==> http://www.cnbc.com/id/15840232?video=1072308961&play=1
March 25th, 2009 at 7:22 pm
Geez… at the rate they’re going with members, they could simply add a “Buy me a Beer” or “Donate to Keep Our Services” operational button and they’d probably be fine.
I’m sure that they are getting a healthy kick from iPhone and many others who are integrating Twitter into their services, also, they’ll surely add the ads as FaceBook and MySpace has after they’ve developed a sufficient enough user base.
March 25th, 2009 at 7:26 pm
Hell Ryan,
Why don’t you fly under the radar (pun intended), and steal their thunder..?
Set up an affiliate branch (sorry), and do it..!!
Cheers Ryan,
Axl (Freebird);)
March 25th, 2009 at 7:37 pm
They already have categories. Making it longer would just be more to read/sort through. I’m a fan of short and sweet. I wouldn’t pay for it
March 25th, 2009 at 7:48 pm
Hi,
I am a newbie, broke from all the Gurus. I have no blog and no twitter account yet. I just became interested in trying to blog and twitter, as a free way to try and get going. So, even though it sounds like it would probably work for a lot of people, at this point in time, it would discourage me.
You have great content.
Thanks,
Don
March 25th, 2009 at 8:01 pm
People have become used to almost everything on the Internet being free. But sooner or later, the party has to end - especially with the economy in the current situation. These Social Marketing sites need to monetize their base of users better otherwise their investors may get impatient and move on.
Twitter could easily add some new services. Your suggestions are very good. I’d like to see it much easier to locate people to follow who have similar interests. How about search by business or interest category instead of just name?
Good post.
March 25th, 2009 at 8:05 pm
Hi!!!!!!!!!!!
It is good idea.
Alina
March 25th, 2009 at 8:10 pm
Fee would be good if it would eliminate even 50% of the useless, mindless, non-sequitur type of posts prevalent on Twitter at present. I find Twitter an interesting possibility looking for a real way to make a meaningful contribution. Maybe the pay to play way is a viable option.
March 25th, 2009 at 8:12 pm
There are 2 types of people who will pay for twitter pro. Those who can afford it and those who always think something inexpensive is their key to success. The reality is if you are not succeeding using the stuff that is free, paying for it will not change your results. You need to keep it simple, follow basics and stop trying to find the magic pill. Twitter as is will produce incredible results if you utilize it the way it was designed, Building relationships. Get them to know you in 140 characters or less. They will then follow you to your blog and the money will follow.
March 25th, 2009 at 8:41 pm
Just this morning I heard Twitter founder on PRN discussing the idea of researching charging businesses for some additional feature.
March 25th, 2009 at 9:05 pm
I think keeping the tweets as they are at 140 characters is much better, although other services could be charged at $4.95 to save havign to set up with half a dozen different programs.
Limiting the size of tweets is a great equaliser and like listing on eBay, helps one make sure they are saying what really is necessary - and no more.
L
March 25th, 2009 at 9:13 pm
Good post Ryan. I wonder if the folks at Twitter are listening.
March 25th, 2009 at 9:57 pm
I’d pay just to be first in line for tech support when something happens (like when Twitter dropped over 20K of the people I was following… which cost 3000 followers).
Also, why not have a premium account that has the feature that over “aftermarket” solutions have (ie auto follow, schedule tweets, mass dm, etc)
People are already paying for these things anyway.
March 25th, 2009 at 10:00 pm
I think Twitter should consider adding a paid service while leaving what they have now unchanged. If Twitter was to issue an accross the board fee it would wipe out the user base AND open the doors for free version competition.
Twitter is just talking when you boil it all down. It is friends chatting about fun and unimportant things no one has any business paying for.
March 25th, 2009 at 10:20 pm
Maybe the “tongue-in-cheek” “hoax” was really a “trial balloon” to test the waters and guage the response. Prior to actual implementation.
March 26th, 2009 at 12:24 am
I find Twitter quick & easy to use, being in a hands on family run tourism business time is tight. A small fee would be ok or a Paypal donation button would also be popular I believe, to give as you feel inclined to.
March 26th, 2009 at 1:50 am
Any website that thinks like a business ought to take up ideas like these or I’ll implement them myself!
March 26th, 2009 at 1:57 am
Hey Ryan this is a good Idea all I can say any thing gos
now days why not if it works keep on Twittering
Salon Louis
March 26th, 2009 at 2:22 am
Facebook has a model now, they sell advertising and make money off selling products via application plugins and addons.
Twitter right now doesn’t have a model for making money, but it’s becoming a great model for others to make money. Plus it’s pretty low bandwidth when you compare it to YouTube!
March 26th, 2009 at 2:23 am
Hi Ryan: I have no problem paying. But most people probably won’t
as they have been accustomed to getting it free.
Have a wonderful day. God Bless
March 26th, 2009 at 4:53 am
First instinct…
Nope, why?
Do we have to monetise everything?
Twitter is a tool and if the tool is used correctly - ie giving people value then to me relationships are based on trust and respect, not who has the most cash.
And I wonder how many people with 10,000 followers are actually building realtionships or just using twitter to sell sell sell first.
Okay. Twitter is fab as an add on for marketing…but now people make money from the ‘Let Twitter Make You Millions’ approach…playing on the little guys who are clinging to the next big thing that will save their business.
Gosh, am I on a rant!
Em…in short…na! Leave alone!
xxx
March 26th, 2009 at 5:23 am
Twitter makes it SIMPLE. Messing up this will open the door to someone else making it even easier and more convenient for newbies.
March 26th, 2009 at 9:37 am
A fee to add features is a good idea and one that seems likely to sustain these communities (VCs need a payback). As mentioned earlier in this discussion (Fred Holmes), a fee would qualify users to some degree. It is though a delicate balance of changing the culture of the community as it works to monetize itself.
March 26th, 2009 at 11:35 am
Premium service is a good idea.
I also run a dog lovers social community (FREE) and do so because sites like Facebook and Twitter are as well. So if they charge, we/people see more value in belonging to these kinds of communities and that servers, programmers, graphics people, creators do need to be paid for the time involved to sustain something like this for the long term.
I would pay Twitter and Facebook to help me rank higher.
sheryl
March 26th, 2009 at 12:25 pm
If I could get Dolly Parton to tweet for me my life would be complete!
March 26th, 2009 at 5:51 pm
I have found that you can say some pretty outrageous things that, to you, seem enough of a joke that everyone will get it and not take it seriously. I couldn’t believe how many people tweeted about that as if it was real.
If you read it, it is clearly tongue in cheek, but I guess most people really do scan - just like copywriters are always telling us.
In the joke, though, is probably a good idea. I’d sign up for premium service without even seeing what was included.
March 26th, 2009 at 7:37 pm
I would pay that premium for sure. I would think there is definitely ways to monetize twitter.
March 27th, 2009 at 12:53 am
Interesting idea. The million (billion) dollar question: “How do you best monetize Twitter?”
March 30th, 2009 at 2:42 pm
I am 100% in agreement. I’m sure it would make a lot of Twitter faithfuls a bit more comfortable knowing their favorite past-time is financially stable.
One feature I would add to the Premium is the ability to embed an image (no bigger than a profile image)!
April 10th, 2009 at 11:44 am
I agree that would be a good idea, despite that it was originally just a hoax. Twitter is such a big thing for advertisers today, it would be very beneficial.
May 2nd, 2009 at 3:16 am
Hey Ryan,
Thanks for sharing this story today at the SuperConference. You kicked ass up on stage and loved every minute.
May 9th, 2009 at 8:38 am
This is very typical of the internet marketing community to be so positive about wanting to monetize something as successful Twitter or Facebook by charging a fee.
There is no way that these sites would be as successful as they are if they charged a fee. It seems its always a typical internet marketers response to want to charge for everything. It really goes to show how uneducated and one dimensional when it comes to business a lot of you are.
September 1st, 2009 at 3:53 pm
So all this Twitter stuff is real interesting - but I have a question, why is it that no mater where I click on the “Claim Your FREE Copy of Twitter List-Building by Clicking Here” links on you page at http://www.bluebirdlistbuilding.com/ I get taken to a shopping cart that asks me to pay $97.
Maybe I have a different definition of “free”.
September 14th, 2009 at 8:21 am
It costs several million dollars in salaries and expenses to run a place like Twitter. I am all for them earning a few extra billion dollars because it wouldn’t come out of my hide, or not all of it would come out of my hide.
They are giving us something that is valuable, and they deserve to earn a profit, if we decide to pay them for their service.
If I would decide to stay free, I would stay free… If I would decide to upgrade, I would upgrade… why should anybody else complain if I (or somebody else) would decide to pay? I think I would not upgrade (if the upgrade existed… which it doesn’t, yet…) but I might if I would want to.
- Ellis2ca (The Incredible Dirty Old Man Who Does Not Grow Older…)