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No revenue model Twitter takes out Digg in traffic

January 20, 2009

No-Revenue Model Twitter takes out Digg in Traffic according to Hitwise. This doesn’t surprise us considering all the controversy with Digg, and editorial review for content from Microsoft. So of course this was bound to happen.

The problem we have isn’t really with Digg however, at least Kevin Rose is a paid shill for Microsoft and admits it…. the keyword being paid. The problem we have is with Twitter having massive amounts of traffic and no revenue model to speak of.

twitter-digg-wms

There comes a point where the VC dries up, and during the great depression part II you see no more sources of income. Hence the problem.

If Twitter does not find a revenue model, they will eventually have two choices, we doubt they can apply for TARP money.

1 - shut down
2 - find someone to buy them and let them have the problem of finding a revenue model.

So what do you do with millions upon millions of 140 character messages? How do you turn that into money?

Well… the ideas being floated out there are to charge companies to put on a recommended follow list. Might work… considering Dell has been eeking millions from twitter using it as direct mail piece to advertise their specials.

That might work, but don’t think that that will cover their massive SMS charges (like a cell phone carrier will give Twitter an unlimited account for 20 bucks a month.. heh).

We predict eventually they will start charging for their end users when they feel they have met critical mass. Now this might work to an extent as long as the monthly bill is something tiny… like a dollar a month.

5 million users at a dollar a month is 60 million a year (throw in the sponsorships listed above.. you might break 80 million)… the problem they will have is keeping 5 million users paying a dollar a month.. The biggest fear is mass exodus from twitter the second they start charging. It’s not like it’s difficult to setup a competitor. We setup one in a test environment using wordpress, plugins and a download theme.. meaning that the costs to entry are low… really low if you don’t send out too many of those costly SMS.

Twitter is on to something, the problem is we don’t want that something to be bankruptcy.

Twitter’s new logo!
no_cash_value

Written by TheFounder · Filed Under Advertising Agency News 


Comments

  • http://fantomaster.com/fantomNews/archives/2009/01/21/twitter-in-need-of-a-bailout/ Twitter in Need of a Bailout? ::

    [...] always an excellent read) refers to yesterday’s article by TheFounder at Tribble Ad Agency: No revenue model Twitter takes out Digg in traffic (hey, what kind of an un-SEOed link is that, anyway?), asking the entirely pertinent question: [...]

  • http://www.associatedcontent.com/poddys poddys

    Very interesting article. Digg may have income, but it’s often so slow to use, it turns me off for a start. Twitter is the site of the moment, and in fact the ability to send and receive short “tweets” is great - if that’s what you want.

    I hope Twitter doesn’t go under, but the concept of getting millions of people hokked on your site and then charging them at a later date might work. I am sure that they will lose probably 50% of their member base, however $1 a month or even a lower $5 a year is so low most people would pay that probably, rather than use a poorer quality alternative.

    New sites are coming out all the time though, all with new ideas and gimmicks. One of the highlights for this year is surely going to be “Tagfoot”, a site with a breath of fresh air, which I think will sweep a lot of traffic from Digg for a start. Tagfoot is close to coming out of Beta Test and closed to new members (except by invitation). We have an article on our blog about Tafoot, and can also extend an invitation to join to anyone who would like to test drive what could be the social networking site of the year.

  • http://www.delovesto.com Tony

    Very interesting article. Digg may have income, but it’s often so slow to use, it turns me off for a start. Twitter is the site of the moment, and in fact the ability to send and receive short “tweets” is great - if that’s what you want.

    I hope Twitter doesn’t go under, but the concept of getting millions of people hokked on your site and then charging them at a later date might work. I am sure that they will lose probably 50% of their member base, however $1 a month or even a lower $5 a year is so low most people would pay that probably, rather than use a poorer quality alternative.

    New sites are coming out all the time though, all with new ideas and gimmicks. One of the highlights for this year is surely going to be “Tagfoot”, a site with a breath of fresh air, which I think will sweep a lot of traffic from Digg for a start. Tagfoot is close to coming out of Beta Test and closed to new members (except by invitation). We have an article on our blog about Tafoot, and can also extend an invitation to join to anyone who would like to test drive what could be the social networking site of the year.

  • http://www.tribbleagency.com/ TheFounder

    I don’t know of 5 dollars a year can cover the SMS charges alone… we’ll find out!

  • http://www.tribbleagency.com TheFounder

    I don’t know of 5 dollars a year can cover the SMS charges alone… we’ll find out!

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