How will Twitter make money?

Saturday, October 18, 2008 by Dave Winer.

Imho, asking how Twitter will make money is not a dumb question. It's not a sporting thing, not idle conversation. I don't think people are saying Twitter won't find a way to make money, rather expecting that how they make money will change the way Twitter works, probably not an improvement. 

The investors in Twitter, I think, like most tech investors, lack the perspective of a user. Here's the key point, we feel like we're investors too. We're putting our time into developing the service, when people sign up to Twitter because I urge them to, or stay there because I pour my time into it, I wonder where that investment will go when the people who control the service (Fred, Bijan, Ev, Jack, Biz, et al) change it so they can make money.  

There's an uneasy feeling that when we see how it works, we aren't going to like it. 

That's why the question keeps coming up, imho. 

I have a preference. I'd like to be able to pay Twitter a monthly fee to opt out of however they decide to commercialize it. I think that's the honorable way to transition from a free approach (the current one) to a money-making approach.