Twitter has struggled to bring more users onto its website. Approximately 70% of end-user interaction with the microblogging service takes place away from Twitter.com. As the company moves toward its search-based ad model, expected to be released later this quarter, website traffic is becoming increasingly important. Yet, it's this gap between use and on-site action that might protect the company going forward ... at least if Facebook can be used as an indicator.

With Facebook Connect, members of the social networking site can interact with their profiles "remotely." If you want to share this blog post on Facebook, for example, you can do it without opening a new browser, plucking www.facebook.com on the keyboard and pasting the URL into the status field. This connection, even though it costs Facebook a pageview or two, reinforces the user's relationship with the site, increasing the likelihood that he or she will remain active overall. It also provides fodder for other members, fueling more clicks, comments and likes ... and ultimately cash in the Facebook till.

Twitter is on the prowl. Though it made its last acquisition more than a year ago, company founder Biz Stone said on Tuesday that it's looking to add to the stable. There aren't any specific targets yet -- at least none revealed -- and Twitter is keeping its options open. The likely pool of potential acquisitions consists of third-party Twitter application developers, which is largely responsible for the micro-blogging service's growth in popularity.

Stone, one of Twitter's founders, said at a Tel Aviv news conference, "As our attention is grabbed by some of these developers, we will take a hard look at them." This refers to companies that develop applications for Apple's (AAPL) iPhone and Research in Motion's (RIMM) Blackberry. It also refers to developers for the Web and desktop, such as HootSuite and TweetDeck.

Michael Moe knows how to make headlines: Talk about Twitter and predictably people will bite (I'm proof of that). He led the team at NeXt Up Research that calculated the value of the micro blogging service and arrived at $526 million to $674 million -- half what Twitter is generally believed to be worth.

Really?

The team estimates that Twitter will generate revenues of $114 million to $134 million in 2013. In 2014, Twitter is expected to post revenues of $126 million to $148 million. This is far more conservative than the valuation implied by the company's most recent round of venture capital investment, which puts the company's worth at more than $1 billion.

The Twitter ecosystem may be changing constantly, but most of that comes on the back of individual developers and outside companies. They beat on Twitter APIs to create new products that may win them glory, recognition or cash. Over the past month, though, Twitter itself has gotten into the game, releasing or announcing a handful of new features.

A new function for "retweeting" (echoing another's tweet to your own followers), changes to how trending topics are managed, and the ability to create lists are new tools intended to engage users ... on the Twitter.com website. Considered within the context of Twitter's changed terms of service this year, the upgrades may be part of a broader ad-based revenue plan.

It's tough to take on Google (NASDAQ: GOOG). The search engine behemoth owns 65% of the U.S. search market and has a commanding brand presence. Yet, the software maker up the coast isn't known to give up easily. Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) has cut a deal with microblogging site Twitter that should give it an edge in the battle to harness data and make it easier to find. A new deal will feed all those tweets into Bing, the Microsoft search engine.

Twitter is giving Microsoft full access to its data, in a deal announced Wednesday. Bing will provide search functionality for Twitter that you won't find in Google, which seems to have been outbid for the rights to the "tweet-stream." Under the deal, Bing will be able to index and display the tweets almost immediately as they are posted.