Twitter rules out ads in 2009

 

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By Stuart Turton

Posted on 23 Sep 2009 at 08:18

Twitter has announced it will not place advertisements on the site this year, despite a growing push for the two-year-old phenomenon to begin making money.

Speaking at the 140: Twitter Conference in Los Angeles, company co-founder Biz Stone claimed the site was "pretty good right now" with regards to funding, and stressed its immediate focus was on adding new features ranging from an improved search function to paid-for commercial accounts.

"Any kind of approach toward advertising is going to be awhile ... We're not thinking about that just yet," Stone said.

Any kind of approach toward advertising is going to be awhile ... We're not thinking about that just yet

Instead, Stone said Twitter aims to offer premium features for commercial account users this year. Though vague on the details, Stone envisions a series of paid-for features, which could potentially "light analytics" tools that allow commercial users to gather data on their followers, he said.

"We wanted to show people that we're here to stay and here we are making money," Stone said.

Privately held Twitter has received plenty of venture funding, but Stone declined to disclose the amounts or valuation. However, it's been reported that a new round of funding values Twitter at $1 billion.

Still in its infancy, the fledgling company has rapidly become a cultural phenomenon, but Twitter and other social-networking websites have yet to show investors how they will start earning a profit.