An announcement this week from one of the investors in Twitter has managed to surprise the usually unflappable Web 2.0 crowd by revealing that the company will begin charging for some services in January next year.
Japanese firm DG Mobile, which is part-owned by Digital Garage, a Twitter investor, revealed that the microblogging site would charge users not to write tweets, as had been anticipated, but to read those of key users.
Followers to pay up
At a press conference complete with slides and full explanations, DG Mobile's Kenichi Sugi said anyone taking out a paid-subscription option would be able to charge followers a small amount to read their tweets.
The sum is likely to be in the ¥100 to ¥1,000 (70p to £7) range per subscription and will be set by the account holder. Twitter plans to skim 30 per cent of that off for itself.
Blazing a trail
In terms of how it will actually work, that isn't clear yet, but it's likely that partial tweets will be available for free, with valuable content – images, video or original research – available only after paying up.
The subscription service will launch in Japan in January 2010, with other countries sure to follow if it proves successful.
Update: In spite of the DG Mobile briefing being public and well documented across the media, the company is now backtracking and saying there are no plans to charge Twitter users at all.
Apparently, they say, it's all a 'misunderstanding'. Either that or a desperate attempt to backpedal after a lot of negative publicity.
Your comments (7) Click to add a new comment
saucymonk
November 30th 2009
7. Surely Twitters star is already fading. This will makes it`s demise happen all that much quicker?
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shodanicron
November 28th 2009
6. I dont use twitter, they dont use advertising? i have no clue? i think tech89 is right then in that case. Keeping it totally free isnt the most viable business plan ever :)
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tech89
November 28th 2009
5. Advertisers don't pay all the bills!
Twitter may kill it self from a fair share of users but its brave enough to try and make some decent money out of the service, so good on them for doing it!
Plus twitter is for those who like to share their every action or thought of the hour and those people deserve to get charged because they're plonkers!
Guys, Social sites/tools are companies, and companies need to make serious money to make the people who lend the money happy!
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shodanicron
November 28th 2009
4. I Think that its a bad move for twitter, that is because of the power of the internet. As soon as a service becomes inhibiting to its users, the community itself will simply resort to another medium, or create an open source version of the product themselves....... Hopefully
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martinb
November 28th 2009
3. Who will be 'Key Users' media, celebrities? So everyone will stop following these media outlets, and the celebrities will lose followers and the bubble that is their over inflated ego's will burst, when they realise that actually people aren't interested in their ramblings.
This will be the downfall of Twitter. People enjoy it because it is simple and uncomplicated, as soon as it goes commercial and adverts start flagging up and the like people will leave and go elsewhere.
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optimaximal
November 28th 2009
2. I can't see this leaving Japan - they seem to be a culture who are happy to pay for the inconsequential here or there (see: Pokémon).
If the people behind twitter want to kill it, charging is the best way too do it!
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tweetdecktv
November 28th 2009
1. Twitter is missing the point. The notion that we plebeians can communicate in real time with people we admire - this is the bargaining chip Twitter will be throwing away.
Get advertisers onboard, don't throw your passengers off the ship. Look at Hulu.
If Twitter becomes a bank of anonymous souls, devoid of the interaction we now have with "key users", it will just be another static Facebook or MySpace. Who decides who the "key users" are anyway? What if Youtube had told Perez Hilton his vlog could only be seen by paying customers? How can creative people make their mark on Twitter if you censor them - which is what you will be doing if you prevent them from seeing or addressing "key users" - ultimately preventing their freedom of speech.
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