Twitter makes deal with Microsoft

Posted Mar 24th 2009 1:00PM by Tom Taulli
Filed under: Microsoft (MSFT), Next Big Thing

I'm a recent user of Twitter. For the most part, I'm not sure about the value proposition. But in light of the site's enormous popularity, I had to take a look.

Well, Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) is also interested -- and is willing to throw some bucks at it. Yes, Twitter is growing up and trying to find ways to monetize its user base.

The initiative is called ExecTweets. As the name implies, this is for business-types (the kinds of people who -- I guess -- buy Microsoft software). That is, Microsoft has a site, in partnership with Federated Media, to aggregate tweets from executives. For what? I'm not sure. And how will we know that the tweeters are executives? I'm not sure of that, either.

But hey, it will probably get lots of buzz, right?

All in all, Twitter's first attempt at monetization is mildly interesting. But I'm assuming it's just the start. And, in light of Twitter's mastery of media, I'm sure we'll see a steady stream of new ideas that will keep up the momentum.

Tom Taulli is the author of various books, including The Complete M&A Handbook and the founder of BizEquity, a free online business valuation tool for small businesses.

Tags: msft, Twitter

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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

3-24-2009 @ 1:28PM

Zeta said...

Twitter will never survive on it's own, if Microsoft wants to help, why don't they just purchase the company, and integrate some of the features into Windows Live/MSN (of course, without ruining the Twitter site as well). Twitter is small and wouldn't cost that much, plus it has major potential.

3-24-2009 @ 1:34PM

Zeta said...

Not to mention, Microsoft is already doing well with it's Windows Live/MSN portals. Twitter could help boost those services, and help them better compete with Yahoo and Google.

I love Live Search, I don't even use Google anymore.

IMHO, MSN Video is better than Youtube.

I think they are doing fantastic right now.