Speaking at a Nesta panel this morning in London, Twitter co-founder Biz Stone stated that long-rumored premium corporate accounts for the most popular microblogging service will come by year's end.
Although business accounts have long been a source of speculation for the site's monetization plans, it's not true that all business accounts will be charged for using the service. Instead, the premium accounts will feature additional analytics data and enhanced features.
Back in August, they said they were in the first phases of rolling out these accounts.
Also on the panel, celebritwit Stephen Fry criticized the move. According to Clickz:
He . . . said he didn't intend to be "anti-commercial," but that if Twitter becomes "annoying to users" and there was "a sense of being guided by a big corporate brother," the company risks alienating its user base.
Which, of course, is a good point. Fry also asked about the possibility of display ads (specifically annoying banners), which Stone dismissed: "the plan has always been to create a [revenue] model that would be native to Twitter."
What do you think? Are you interested in a premium account? Do you think Twitter will ever cave on display ads?
Link to original post