Will You Pay To Tweet?

Millions of people user Twitter everyday, and as many businesses are jumping on board to promote and connect for free, the Tweet phenomenon continues to grow.

All that free promotion isn’t flying under the radar of the head honchos at Twitter though, and the powers that be have announced plans begin charging users for premium accounts.

At the moment the popular micro-blogging and social networking site doesn’t charge for its service or run ads. Co-founder Biz Stone says Twitter will not charge users for existing usage habits.

Instead the company will launch a set of premium marketing and promotion services, such as more detailed analytics or deeper CRM services, for which companies using Twitter may be willing to pay. The accounts will also include ID verification so that businesses don’t have to worry about having their brands hijacked by impostors.

One of the most interesting new APIs Twitter is working on are programming languages companies can use to create apps geared specifically toward business customers.

The premium service is expected to bring in US$140 million in revenue next year.

So what do you think? Would you pay for a premium service with Twitter as part of your business development and strategy?