An article that ran on the satire site BBSpot has apparently fooled some Twitterers.
It claimed that Twitter was going to begin charging for "premium" services as follows:
* Sparrow ($5/month) – Users get 145 character limit, 5 extra random followers.
* Dove ($15/month) – Users get 160 character limit, 25 extra random followers, 1 random celebrity follower, auto-spell check, "Fail Whale" T-shirt.
* Owl ($50/month) – Users get 250 character limit, 100 extra random followers, 2 random celebrity followers, 30 minutes on recommended list, auto-spell check, "Fail Whale" hoodie.
* Eagle ($250/month) – Users get 500 character limit, 1000 extra random followers, 3 celebrity followers of their choice, 5 hours on recommended list each month, Twitter Concierge for Tweeting while user is asleep or busy (and more), auto-spell check, "Fail Whale" tuxedo, custom "Fail Whale" page when service is down.
News of the premium services quickly made its way to Twitter.
PCWorld reports "At least half all current tweets about the 'news' are still treating it seriously."
Comments
* Dodo ($500/month)- Users get a secret email indicating that Twitter has no actual real use, but that they should keep this to themselves as it's "commercial-in-confidence". They also get their choice of Bush Senior or Junior as super-celeb follower. :wow:
(HH thanks for the idea of GWB!)
Twitter is currently developing premium accounts, as well as testing
unobtrusive paid ads as a form of monetization
thanks for sharing!
Nicholas