Om Malik On Twitter Metering

Om thinks the fat cats on Twitter should have to pay:

[from In Twitter’s Scoble Problem, a Business Model - GigaOM.

This massive database of followers is what Twitter should turn into a business. Twitter should charge Scoble, Leo, Me, Michael Arrington and anyone else who has more than 100 friends & followers. How about something simple: $10 a month for 1000 subscribers. 25,000 subscribers means someone like Scoble should be pay them around $250 a month.

Lets take it a step further. Twitter should limit people to 500 free messages a month. Any more should come in a bucket of say 1000 messages for $10. Businesses like Comcast who want to use the service for commercial reasons should pay for the service, and so should start-ups like Summize who want to build their businesses based on Twitter API.

This would also fit the Freemium business model, Twitter investor Fred Wilson so loves. And at the same time it will help Twitter overcome its abhorrence for adding advertising to the messages. I think many of us have a lot to gain from the service: my alerts about my posts on the system are a form of advertising for my work, and generate enough attention that paying for the service makes lot of sense.

Actually makes sense: if people get value out of many, many followers, they should pay. I’d pay my $30+ per mo for Twitter, no argument.