Well in the new advertising terms and conditions, Twitter “leaves the door open” for advertising, however “leaving the door open” does not mean advertising is allowed today so effectively while the option’s there this does not actually seem that radical or surprising really.

Advertising revenue is the traditional way in which websites generate money whilst remaining free to users, obviously Google has Google Adwords and Facebook also operates a “pay per click” and “CPM advertising” model.

The new terms of service also state that users will “own” their Twitter tweets although Twitter is still allowed to “use, copy, reproduce, process, adapt, modify, publish, transmit, display and distribute” your tweets because, well, that’s just what they do, your content will also be available via their API’s.

The company founded only two years ago now has 45 million users and is reported to have turned down an acquisition offer of $500 million from Facebook. In August this year Facebook acquired a web service known as “FriendFeed”, which allows users to see what their friends are posting on different social media sites in a single feed.

Online advertising agency, Status Media, which specialises in online marketing and SEO, continues to have ongoing debates with clients regarding the importance of managing and developing their Twitter accounts and social media strategy, with many prospective well known brands having Twitter feeds which are clearly out of date.

Twitter has already stated that it will introduce “paid for” Twitter accounts for companies which would like to have a brand presence on their site. There is also talk of an “analytics dashboard” where companies could monitor tweets about their brand.

There was also speculation that Twitter could even allow advertisements in the streams of tweets but such a move would most likely result in a serious user backlash from users, however this does not seem too unrealistic as Google could potentially monetize parts of it’s natural search space. We have been watching advertisements which interrupt our favourite soaps and films on TV for years.

The actual amendments to the terms and conditions are along the following lines; “In consideration for Twitter granting you access to and use of the services, you agree that Twitter and its third-party providers and partners may place such advertising on the services….” with the services being “subject to change”.

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