Not everyone is aboard the Twitter bandwagon. I was long opposed to it, until turning full circle and becoming an addict at the start of this year. How long will the service continue to be free though? Like every other new trendy west coast startup, Twitter has no business model, and they’re desperately trying to figure something out. In a recent interview with Telegraph, Twitter CEO Evan Williams had these nuggets of insight to share:
“The best business models come from where people can create the most value. I think Twitter can create the most value on mobile phones, because it is more immediate. Most people cannot live without their mobile phones over their PCs and we believe we can enhance people’s lives on the move.”
“Mobile is bigger than people think.”
“Mobile is really exciting as our goal is to make Twitter essential to everyone’s lives. We want to help people make better choices on the move.”
“We think we can do well on mobile because Twitter is native to it. 140 characters was originally set as the limit so it could fit onto one text message. Most people don’t realise that.”
What exactly does Twitter have planned for their mobile service is anyone’s guess. Twitter’s SMS support only works in a few countries, and the company have just recently launched a mobile site in Japan, but that isn’t going to pay the bills. At some point they’ll have to make money. Suggesting a business model for Twitter used to be a fad back when the service was going through a rough patch and having constant issues keeping the service alive, so I’m not going to bother throwing my two cents on to the table.