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Twitter Twitter Monetization Twitter News

Would You Pay To Keep Your Twitter Username?

This post was inspired by a post I read at Blackweb20.com The blog article titled  “Twitter’s Popularity Doesn’t Translate into Profitability” talks about how popular Twitter has become but can that popularity turn in a profit.

I think Twitter should take a chapter out of what we already know as Domain Names renewal.  Having a Twitter handle or username has almost become as popular as getting the right domain name.

Some of us are still old enough to remember that domain names were once free to obtain. So if we are so use to paying anywhere from $7.99-35.00 for the average .com .net or.org per year, so why can’t Twitter charge us a yearly registration fee to keep our Twitter username.  Paying for your Twitter username would also cut down on the amount of Twitter spam one gets everyday.

If I were  Twitter I would also charge a premium price to corporations/business for their company branded username. I will also charge celebrities and sports figures a premium for verifying their name.

I don’t think Fortune 500 corporations like Walmart, Bank of America or Ford would mind paying a little extra to use Twitter or to keep their Twitter handle.

With the last count of about 50+ million users and growing on Twitter, most of us who have had our Twitter handle for 3 years would not mind paying anywhere from $10-20 dollars per year just to keep on Tweeting. That could be an annual income of 500m – 1 billion for Twitter and that ain’t shabby.

So what are your thoughts on this matter. Would you pay a yearly fee to keep your Twitter username? Please answer in the comments below.

All the best

JB

Categories
Biz Stone Evan Williams Twitter Twitter News

Did Your Twitter Account Get The New Design Yet?

Twitter announced its new redesign of their Twitter site on Tuesday of this week and said that after their announcement they would roll out the new Twitter design to us all. Have you been updated to the new design yet? As of today I sure have not. So, when will we all be able to experience this most eagerly awaited new look and feel? Who Knows.

I have been very happy with web based clients like @hootsuite and @seesmic I am not sure what is taking Twitter so long to roll this new design out to everyone but I guess it has something to do with how many people who are actually using Twitter. Even though, I look forward to seeing the new Twitter design I don’t think it will make me want to give up my @hootsuite or @seesmic Twitter client. Oh well, If you have not seen what the new design looks like take a look at the two video below.  Big Thanks to Robert Scoble @Scobleizer for providing the Ustream coverage on the day of the Twitter announcement.  If you have been upgraded please let us know what the experience is like in your comments below.

All the best

JB

Scobleizer

Categories
Twitter News Twitterholics

Britney Spears Is Not Gaga Over Losing The Top Twitter Spot

I don’t know about you but every once in a while I love seeing a good Girl Fight..;-) Well Twitter has set the stage for one of the best ever. Lady Gaga (@ladygaga)  just recently took the top spot from Britney Spears (@britneyspears) and may reach the 6 million follower mark before anyone.  I still remember way back when Ashton Kutcher (@aplusk) beat out CNN (@cnnbrk) to the first million followers way back in April of 2009 http://twarketing.com/2009/04/17/ashton-kutcher-beats-cnn-and-britney-to-1-millon-followers-on-twitter/

Now a days, you can’t even get into the top 25 on Twitterholics if you don’t have 2 million plus followers.

I think the next milestone for all that are caring to watch will be the first person or personality that gets to the 10 million follower mark. I am still personally routing for Oprah Winfrey (@oprah). All she has to do is tell her raving fans.. me included to follow her and get her to 10 million followers as a send off present to her last season on regular tv. Oprah is currently 8th on the list  at this posting with just over 4 million followers but I bet she could get to 10 million faster than anyone if she put her tweet mind to it.

Here is an idea. Oprah does her final show as a Tweetup and gives everyone in the audience there choice of an iPhone, Blackberry Torch or the coolest Android phone at the time. She then tells the audience in the studio and her audience at home that before the end of her live fair well show she wants to be number one on Twitter. I bet she could probably get to 20 million followers by the end of the show if all went according to plan.

The only other person that I would route for is Barack Obama (@BarackObama). Wouldn’t it be cool to see our President retake that top spot on Twitter by announcing that we are finally out of this recession and that our unemployment rate has dropped to less than 2 percent.  Yeah, I know like that is going to happen anytime soon. I guy could dream can’t he.

My dark horse in all of this 10 million or bust twitter follower stuff is little Justin Bieber (@JustinBieber). He is young enough to be my kid and I really don’t get the reason why he is so popular but his Twitter stock is on the rise and he could trump @ladygaga, @britneyspears, @oprah and the prez @BarackObama before it is all said and done.

What are your thoughts on all this? Who is your favorite person or personality to be the first to 10 million Twitter followers?

Holla

Jazzy

Categories
Case Studies Twitter News

Old Spice Guy “Isaiah Mustafa” Takes Twitter By Storm

If you have not seen them yet, you Will.  @isaiahmustafa the Old Spice Guy has taken @oldspice to new viral heights with over 5.9 million views on Youtube.  This campaign has taken the Old Spice Twitter account from 3271 followers on July 11th 2010 to over 77k followers at this present date. The Old Spice Guy has made over 180+ Youtube video responses to his Twitter followers. My favorite so far has to be the one he did for @mrskutcher and @biz.  The numbers don’t lie and will eventually create many copy cat type campaigns in due time.

Categories
Case Studies Twarketing Twitter News

Lesson of Lebron James (Twitter Case Study Video from ColderICE)

@kingjames and @colderice