0 Twitter Doesn't Need Paying Users
Everyone seems to be chatting it up about Twitter’s business model and lack thereof. The general consensus is that users should pay a subscription, but that’s rather unwise.
Developers should be paying to use twitter, not the users. Think about it. For every developer you probably have at minimum 250-300 users pounding on Twitter. Some web applications even go as far as using Twitter as their user authentication infrastructure. Since Twitter doesn’t provide any other value than just talking to friends in 140 characters, you can’t really constitute making users pay for that.
Developer Licensing on the API
Tons of web start-ups are pursuing license-based business models. These licenses allow a developer or company to use said API and or software in (mostly) whatever way they please. Twitter’s user authentication API alone is something to be desired by 100s of developers and respective web shops.
I think it’s time Twitter start thinking about the long-term and start getting into the platform business. The market and developers are already there and waiting.
Free as in beer
If Twitter starts forcing users to pay for their service, users will find someone else who offer similar services for free. The one thing about web 2.0 is that you can nearly always find a free “me-too” alternative. Yeah, they may not be as popular, but they generally offer the same or additional features.
It’s time for Twitter to starting opening up and talking to developers cause they’re the ones who really get twitter to the masses. If a developer’s web app nets 5000 users, that is 5000 potential users for twitter that wouldn’t be there without that developer.
So who’s really important in Twitter’s business model?