Would you pay to Twitter?

Short answer: NO, I would NOT pay for Twitter.

Twitter is an entertainment for me only. If my business depended on it, sure, I'll pay a nominal fee.

Hell no.

This is a great idea. In general, I think the internets should be charged for, on a "page-minute" basis. Of course this is a free country, so, billion dollar companies like Coca-Cola, Altria, Wallmart, Halliburton and Fox news could sponsor their sites so their pages are free for you to see, while the general public is spared all the online riffraff like wikipedia.org. That site should be a .com, for ".commie"

For personal use, never. A "pro" option for sites like Flickr makes sense, but for tweeting, absolutely not. Now for a business to pay for these services that it's almost certainly benefitting from financially, of course it makes sense.

Ink was invented in 2600 BC. The ballpoint pen was invented in 1938. The internet was invented 14 years ago. This too shall pass, lets just hope it doesn't take us all with it.

No and No

Hell to the No.
why should we pay for twitter when myspace, facebook, aim & most email services are still free? that'd just be a rip-offfff.

Of course there is no reason for the average user, like Ubik and Robert here to pay for almost anything online anyway, but Certified accounts and Site analytics would be worth it for some businesses to pay for those services. I think its a great idea for them.

No way! They knew going into this that there was no means for making money, other then to build a business and sell it. Now they want to change. What did their business plan dictate in the beginning? Did they follow it? Are they on track? Imagine Facebook and Myspace charging...

The services twitters offer have always been available as other services for businesses on platforms like sharepoint, and other MS programs...why pay for twitter...how secure is it really?

The short answer is just: No friggin' way!

pay for it? I don't even use it. Too many real people in my life to waste time with that.

It all depends on ROI.

Twitter only signifies the downfall of society. Hopefully making people pay for it will deter the new generation and make them go outside.

No, no, no. I post links to my writing but don't earn enough to pay for it.
There is also a rumor that Facebook will start charging also.

Premium service usually means that anything you really like about a site, anything you can actually use, is called premium. I have looked into sites for finding missing persons. They say they are free and they are, but to get information, you have to pay.

Twitter is the lamest thing ever and why people even find it worth wasting their time on to me is insane.

im laying in bed

ive moved to my living room

I am reading a book

Really WHO FREAKING CARES!

I wouldn't pay for those features, but then as an individual I don't need them. Site analytics, though would be incredibly helpful for some businesses, and I can completely see myself advocating paying for such a service – AFTER being able to see the results I would get for my particular needs during a decent trial-period.

and here we are at the beginning of the end of twitter...

Short answer: YES! There are key services I would pay for.

Long answer:

I handle communications for our company, Infinity Ward, a video game developer launching a high anticipated game this holiday called Modern Warfare 2 and I've heavily integrated Twitter into how we communicate with our community and customers on a daily basis. Breaking major announcements, giving behind the scenes looks, and insider info to our most hardcore fans for Modern Warfare 2 via @fourzerotwo.

It's became a crucial part of our public outreach, not only to inform our fans of what we have going on, but to receive information back from them. It's been a great tool to start and maintain an ongoing conversation with our users that I feel has improved our game.

We've even built layers on top of Twitter and integrated it into our official websites in order to get more specific feedback from our audience and allow them to give feedback on the highest rated suggestions from fans (http://twitter.infinityward.com).

Since we do use Twitter so heavily in our relationship with our audience we've had a big problem with imposters and impersonators using Twitter to solicit and phish public information from our users.

I would definitely pay for Twitter solely to have a verified account. Extra tools and tracking on top of that would be fantastic.

Currently I use a great business tool called Co-Tweet that allows all of these features (minus a verified account) that is current free (while in Beta), I think Twitter should take a look at what they've done and integrate those services in for a fee. Services which include tracking coversations, making notes of user accounts, assigning tweets to different users to answer, scheduling time for tweets to post, analytics on links you post, and management of multiple accounts. All stuff I'd happily pay for.

NO

Would I pay for Twitter, no, but that's because I'm not a business person. Twitter, for the most part, is fine how it is and I can't see any features that they can add that would make me want to pay for it.

I don't use Twitter for business, but I am sure that there are many people who do. I can see how these extra features would draw in business, celebrities, and etc, especially the authentication verification.

I'm glad that this service is going to come out. With this service there will be better reliability and it will be good for the casual users out there. Thank you Twitter for not adding advertisements.

Nope. No way. Not an option. Especially in this economy. I would gladly text my friends with little updates, and actually know they read them instead of updating to "nobody" with no response.

Pay? Are you drunk? I don't even have a twitter account as we speak;...what makes you think I'll want to get one only to pay?

I don't know yet. Waiting for the details.

I would pay for Twitter for personal use but as business I would have to consider the return on investment.

From Twitters perspective they are obviously looking to monetise their current proposition which is the same thing the likes of Facebook, MySpace and others are facing.

I happened upon a website (www.hotideasfactory.com) which has subscription based social networking model focusing on weight loss. Jury is out whether this is the way to go.

For certifying part and authentication is it fine to pay a fee. But for the payment it will be better to comes with other services as well to differenciate from the free version.

Otherwise it will not be logical to pay.

Yes. I'd pay $5 per month or $50 a year.

No...then again, I don't Twitter, nor Facebook...hell, I don't even own a cell phone.

...and any business that relies heavily on some other company they have no contol over and no other similar-type options if they need to switch (or want to switch) are just plain ol' idiots. The few businesses that cried bloody murder when Twitter went down, yeah, I'm talking to you.

I'll get myself a cell phone the day they put it on my land line as a "$5/month Cell Phone" option that treats my cell phone as a super-range house phone (re: no 'package plans', no locking into a particular brand, no extra charges, no obscene prices for LD charges, no 'roaming' fees, etc...it would be as if I was holding the phone from my house in my hand, but smaller ).

If Rick Sanchez is still on probably!! lol!

rofl, noone is gonna pay for twitter

I won't twitter for free much less pay for it. Another fad, soon to be gone.

I'll second that .... Hell no.

Hahaha, what a cracker of a joke Twitter is. Those who use Twitter aren't "tweeters", they're twits. I'd just love it if they paid for the privilege to be known to all as utter twits. Seems ironically appropriate to me.

I don't use Twitter at all ... nor will I ever.

Nope. We already have to pay for the phone applications (well, some of them. Ubertwitter is free so far but they are launching a $4.99 subscription program). Make money from the businesses, not the civilians. They don't have to charge an exorbitant amount, but I am sure most businesses will pay a bit to keep getting efficient advertising.

Leave well enough alone. You're asking for failure if you try to improve on a good thing...

Sure, I would pay. I am a typical American and can be sold into anything.

I would pay to use twitter, this way I can keep in touch with my guy friends.

I would pay $2/month. No more, no less.

No, I think most people will opt for the free version. It really all depends on the pricing model and what is offered in the "business" packages. I'll be sticking with the free version. http://www.LogicBurst.com

"Certified accounts, so you can know for sure a person or company is who they say they are"

Twitter already have these... They're called "verified Accounts"...

One example is Ashton Kutcher's account [@APlusK]

http://twitter.com/APlusK

He has the verified sign.

How do people not know about this already?

No... twitter is just a waste of good resources

No I would not pay for Twitter and neither would the other 99.9%. However where Twitter could make money is offering their service to business as newsfeeds on specific topic like marketing of consumer products or management plus offering companies full analytics that are actionable

No offense but I would not pay to Twitter and the web site should be ashamed of it self because the role it played this summer with the events the Iran "election". I am sure the founder feels that he can make money buy charging people now that he knows how relevant Twitter can be. Ah, good old captialism at its "best".

No i would not pay for Twiitter... there are so many more important things!

no. I'd rather use myspace or facebook anyways.

I use twitter for entertainment and non-business-related interaction. Nevertheless, I might consider paying a SMALL fee for the service if:
1. they first fix all the recurring tech glitches that been plaguing the service for way too long, and
2. the alternative to paying a fee would be twitter placing some random ad on my page.

Years??? Try 4-6 months.

You must be out your mind .NOOOOOOOOOOO

I second Robert. Pay Twitter to waste my time? HELL no. Twitter should be paying the masses as compensation for all of the time wasted by users micro-blogging about how long they've been chewing their bubble gum.

why ruin something that works for people. won't be surprised if people started closing accounts

JetBlue recently sold out of their flight passes several days early and attributed the success of the program very much to Twitter. If done correctly, using Twitter can be extremely beneficial to business, or it can be a waste of money if done wrongly. It's up to Twitter to provide value for the money they eventually decide to charge. Personally, I think they can do this.

Wil Wheaton (@wilw on Twitter) today posted on his blog an interesting view on a related issue, in which he suggests that he wishes he could pay Twitter in exchange for a few features, particularly regarding the regulation of spambots: http://wilwheaton.typepad.com/wwdnbackup/2009/08/the-spambots-on-twitter-are-completely-out-of-control.html

you're kidding....right?

This will be the 'Jump the Shark' moment for Twitter.

If my business depended on Twitter, I'd be looking for a new business, and fast...Guess Biz Stone is in danger of running out of all the venture capital dough...

I DON'T USE TWITTER, AND IT MAKES NO SENSE AT ALL.
I STILL DONT SEE THE USE IN IT.

No, I wouldn't pay for it either. As for as for businesses, I can't see a business model depending so heavily on twitter that you'd need to pay for it, so again NO!

i dont like this idea at all, i would not pay for twitter.. the whole concept would be lost. im sure of that.

Depending on what is in the premium service and what is in the free service and how much I may pay for it. Twitter has helped me get to know a lot of people and know them better by what they Twitter. I LOVE Twitter and hope that it stays around for a long time.

I would bet that the vast majority of Twitter users have no clue how much money it takes to create and operate a site of that magnitude.

Nada!

Twitter and Facebook fall into the same category to me – tools I would use as long as they are free, but I'd drop out if there was a fee. Internet applications that I would pay for are things like SalesForce.com for CRM, Vonei for video conferencing or WebEx for web conferencing, and premium LinkedIn for the extra services.

Yes, Twitter DOES run ads. Those definitions on your home page? They always link to an outside site.

But of course, that doesn't matter to CNN, because it doesn't make Obama or Clinton look good. So it's irrelevant.

Man, I called this months ago.
Twitter would run out of money and either become a subscription service, or be bought out by an agency, such as Google.

If they went to paid subscription, they will lose a massive number of people, as the vast majority of them are now used to the free Twitter model, and they have no compelling reason to pay for the same service they now get for free.

For an analysis of the Google event, please see my website,
http://aitj-co.com/gcsgz5/blog/?p=214

what is the point of twitter anyway? is it supposed to take the place of the dry erase board and the post-it note on the refridgerator? i don't use twitter, so i guess i don't understand the appeal.

I use Twitter for business, but I still would not pay for it as the impact on business in minimal at best. If it affected my business in a major way, then yes I might be inclined to pay a nominal fee for services.

I dont use twitter or any other programs like it . I am reyired ,but have too many things to do . or any programs like it

I live in a large city and many of my friends use Twitter to coordinate social activities, including myself. If I had to pay for Twitter, I would. However, the article clearly states they're not charging YOU to use Twitter for personal use. Anything you can do today will remain free. They'll merely start offering additional services (not offered today) to those who want them, at a premium. Most of these new, extra services aren't even of interest to the average Twitterer. That being said, why are the two posters above so adamantly against this when a) it doesn't affect them b) Twitter has to generate revenue in order to become a viable, sustainable, business model. What.. do you folks think bandwidth, servers, electricity, cooling, rack space, and a full staff of employees are free? Wow.

seeing how I do not use Twitter, ever.

I would have to say there is no bloody chance that would happen.

As with Yahoo and some other service providers they will realize that there customers that focus on Twitter, may opt for the better service, but most will use the free one or migrate to FaceBook or other competitors, that is just the way it is.

MDD

People who don't make money off their twitter account will probably not be willing to pay for it. However, if you have over 20k followers, you probably would be willing to pay some sort of fee since you are probably making a decent income off of your twitter following. Twitter is a free way to advertise your business so it probably won't be free forever.

We (coworkers) were discussing this earlier. What I am blown away is the amount of time some people seem to have to do this. In my mind, this is nothing more than a virtual diary that allows voyeurism into your life. Now if you want to talk about its use for say a book club where discussions can be had and others may add their thoughts.

would i pay for twitter or any twitter "premium service."

uh. no.

sell ads if you want to make revenue. i can live without twitter. i can live without facebook. site creators and developers have to realize that.

so, go ahead, make it "exclusive" and make it more difficult to deal with. we'll see how long it lasts.

I would pay for it if it garunteed business protection and allowed businesses to post more than the arbitrary 140 characters.

Hell no!

i will not be paying for twitter because its much more of a recreational stuff for me but the company has the right to charge those people whose business depends on it.

Never. Never never never. It is barely counted as entertainment, as is evidenced by the inane updates that take up the greatest majority of the timeline.

Yes, definitely. For those of you that use it for entertainment value, that's your choice; but for those of my clients that use it to generate traffic, it's key. So I will pay, and so will they. Provided the price is viable.

Heck no. It along with all social networking sites are stupid and meant for teen girls. If you're an adult and waste your time on this nonsense, its time to grow up people.

In the end, Twitter is no more than an RSS feed service with a log, a name, and some features to syndicate to different devices and sites. The reason I follow Tweets is because they offer me something – knowledge or deals. The reason I Tweet is because it gives my delicate ego a boost to thing that someone might care about what I'm doing.

I don't need Twitter to get that information from the companies or individuals who write them. I can go direct without Twitter and get them using standardized formats I can read on virtually any device, browser, or email package already.

I would never pay for that! they're insane who cares if a person isnt who they say they are its the internet no one is who they appear to be.

/twitterquit

No, I wouldn't pay for it. I don't even use Twitter. I need more space to write, if I feel like writing.

140 characters or less: No way

I don't even use Twitter. Seems like too much time wasting to me? Anyone have a personal life anymore? Maybe I'm just more private than most...

Yeah I probably would – I pay other companies for some of those "analytic" type services.

At the end of the day people can't provide a service for nothing with no revenue stream to support it.

Do I want twitter to go away? No.

Would I pay if it were just for personal use? Probably not.

But, if using a service helps to promote my business then sure – I mean I pay money to google for ads – so why not twitter for additional services.

The price would have to be right – i.e. cheap – but I kinda feel it's like p2p sharing – sure be pissed off at the record labels if you want – but if you like an artist either find a way to send them some money or buy their CD – even if you already have the songs – for this reason I thought the radiohead thing was a good idea.

Everybody expects everything for free – even when it costs something to provide it.

Good on them, about time.

If your company requires you to use twitter you may want to rethink your business model

Twitters only added value on top of SMS and email is that one can with a single message reach infinit numbers of message consumers without extra cost to the sender and without the need for the consumer to provide the sender with their email addres.

A news server which has been around since the dawn of the internet offers the same posibility without the very limited number of characters issue.
That Twitter is far more popular has everything to do with the fact that popular media like CNN decided to push Twitter in the spotlight instead of the already existing news service. If big business wants to pay to keep the Twitter service alive by all means let them but no consumer in their right mind should do the same as Twitter really doesn't offer anything more then already existing services have done for tens of years.

Paying for a mindless service, what next paying to use the restroom. If that happens another service will just pop up and become all the rage and everyone will want to do it becuase its popular.

I'll answer this depending on usage. If I use it just for communicating with my friends and relatives I won't pay.
But, if I use Twitter for expanding my business and promotions, I will pay some. If Twitter would like to make some money, it can rely on some safe advertisements that won't annoy or disturb the users.
Thanks.

I currently do not use Twitter (...and don't plan to). But if I did,...only when cows fly would I pay to use Twitter!

You have to be kidding me, with Facebook and (albeit not a fan) MYspace not charging a dime, why would I go and pay for pointless chatter.
CNN.com/entertainment keeps me up to date as the daily news on everything from Entertainment to the latest in tech news...if Twitter starts charging they can keep it.

no way

No. I don't even use Twitter when it's free. I think you guys are blowing Twitter's popularity way out of proportion.

The article was pretty long so I didn't read it all, but I would never pay for Twitter. The day they start charging is the day I stop using them.

Twitter is for twits.

Pay for twitter please that is how that site will go down
This is in line with the whole .com bust of years past..... Why are you online? and who cares. I have a twitter account, facebook and myspace only because a relative put family pictures on there I had to join to view pics. Now I am in the IT business I work very hard and do not really have time to go to these sites. Due to accounts on those listed sites some of my old friends are upset that I do not respond. The truth of the matter is I find those site so boring that it is not funny. I also feel that for people who are that lonely these sites are not a bad thing but do be prepared for every person in your life past way past and present can contact you. In my case there are several people that I was glad to have lost contact with that are now following me on twitter and contacted me on facebook

Big Waste of Time
B

I don't even twitter for free.

Hell No

Hell NO! I don't do it hardly at all now as it is. Why would I pay for it. Get better adverts.

NO.

It took me a while to get the hang of it. So if I was paying I would have got annoyed and canceled.

My love affair with Twitter would have been over before it started.

Twitter is just Facebook status update.... Whooo whooo whooo Facebook!!!

Internet has become our lives and is a great thing, but Facebook, Myspace and Twitter can be dangerous especially to the vulnerable.
I don't use any of the 3 and wouldn't.

no. If I have to pay to tweet, I will just find something else to use instead.

Yea right, I am going to pay for being annoyed by vapid valueless drivel. As a socialization tool it is only decent....most of the traffic is just idiot speak.

NOPE. Would never be worth it.

Sure I would pay ....

Twitter is great and if it costs money then ..... why not.

I'm just suprised that it took so long before they decided to charge something.

To tweet is to be a nuisance. It's no better than white noise, so people should be ashamed of themselves for not spending their time on more important things. Everyday the american public proves themselves to be more shallow and moronic, and once they are caught up in the vortex of what's popular they continue to embarrassingly convince themselves that something is cool; and now, twitter wants you to pay for wasting your own time. What are we becoming?

Please just make twitter go away. And the followers of twitter too.

NO!!!

No, I still don't understand Twitters appeal. It's like the lazy man's facebook.

Nope

3 years from now it will be "what's Twitter"

It's the opposite – I would need to get paid to twitter.

For twitter to be a successful business tool it is so important to weed out the 40 or 50% (and growing) which are bots. I think I've found a way to clean out most with websitedevel but it is time consuming.

I would welcome extra optional tools from Twitter – just a matter of how much???

Just like everybody else.., NO !.. Mike in Montana

Everyone pooh-poohing Twitter obviously doesn't quite get it. That's fine. But imagine asking a question and getting responses from all over the world within minutes. It's magic, and it's not all about vanity and coolness. Sure, there's a subset of people who don't use it very well (and are the types of people most commenters have been describing), but once you learn how to harness the power, it's invaluable. That said, it's a very valuable tool to some businesses, and they should be willing to pay for sure. Why would the average user have to pay? They're not profiting. At least the people using Twitter for personal purposes won't have to pay.

Pay for Twitter? Not a chance.

In response to Girl Genius, Message Boards have been doing the same thing for years. They leave a trail of information unlike the twitter that is only for the moment. Totally just a fad for people with nothing better to do...

Start charging to twitter and do it soon because the next big thing is just waiting to take advantage of the opening. Twitter will start charging and then fade away as free competitors step over themselves to fill the void. It's about free communication, idiots, not loyalty to some software company.

NO. I don't even use it now.
Signed up but already use Facebook.

Not a chance.

I wouldn't pay a single penny but I know lots of people who would.

No, Internet will stay free or people will stop using it.

I would pay something, but only if it remained interesting – and it might not be interesting if either most of the Twitterers went away or if all that were left were people who could afford to pay.

So, I believe the idea of charging for extra services is the only way to go.
Good luck, Twitter folks, in finding a path that works for you and for all of us, too. I'm rooting for our success in finding a new path to participatory journalism, being a part of history.

..Lois Shawver
twitter me @jolanza

There's no question Twitter is in dire needs of a revenue model.
http://lostintheflog.wordpress.com/2009/09/23/time-to-pay-the-twitter/

Seems unlikely that people would pay, if that was something imposed. There has in fact been an announcement that MySpace may be turning into a 'paid-model'; clear signs of a slump! We think so at TheMusicVoid anyway – http://bit.ly/6ZoG4e