14 DAY TRIAL // Twitter grew tremendously in 2009, but, much like many startups before, revenue was, and still is, an afterthought thanks to some deep-pocketed investors. Still, the question of how Twitter will monetize has lingered for years now. Up until very recently, advertising, the most common way to bring in revenue for a free web service, has been out of the question, or at least very low on the priority list. A couple of months back, though, Twitter announced that it would introduce ads, but in a totally innovative way. Now, the word on the street in the blogosphere is that the new ad platform will be announced in less than a month.
The first clue comes from MediaPost, which claims that Twitter's ad platform should be coming in less than a month. While Twitter hasn't confirmed any date, ads are definitely coming to the site. "We are working on an ad platform, but it's only in the test phase," Anamitra Banerji, head of product management and monetization at Twitter, told the publication. When asked whether to expect these ads to go live within a month, Banerji replied affirmatively.
While Twitter would not give too much details, it maintains that the ads will be something new, something that will get the users involved. "Banerji said when Twitter launches an ad platform, the company will make it 'explicitly clear that a sponsor' paid for the ad, and make it 'relevant and useful, so the user doesn't think of it as an ad,'" MediaPost writes.
Other reports are now putting forth the SXSW conference, which begins on March 12 as the likely place where the announcement will be made. Twitter's history is linked to the conference, so it's likely that, if an announcement is coming, the company would choose SXSW to make it. Twitter isn't known for its blistering pace of development, but there have been about three months since the company has revealed that ads will be coming to the site. The much-talked-about business tools and premium paid features, though, are still M.I.A.