A recent survey has some pretty surprising results:
Survey – How Many Would Pay For Twitter? Zip, Zilch, Zero – NYTimes.com

If microblogging service Twitter was entertaining even the slightest notion of charging for its service, then it might want to reconsider. A recent survey of nearly 2,000 people found that zero percent – you heard correct – of respondents would pay to use the service.

The survey, conducted by the University of Southern California’s Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism, is part of its yearly “Digital Future” report, which looks at the overall state of the Internet in the U.S., from adoption to views on advertising and paywalls.

Jeffrey Cole, director of the Center for the Digital Future, said that the response shows just how difficult it can be to begin charging users for services and goods they already receive for free.

“Twitter has no plans to charge its users, but this result illustrates, beyond any doubt, the tremendous problem of transforming free users into paying users,” said Cole. “Online providers face major challenges to get customers to pay for services they now receive for free.“

Well, now. I have to say that I am extremely skeptical of that survey, as I would pay as much as $50 a month for a “Power-user” account on Twitter, or perhaps to Tweetdeck for the information and connections that it provides.

I could definitely see a multi-layered version of Twitter, following the example of other online services that provide basic features for free and more powerful features for paying members. Even third-party providers such as Tweetdeck, Seesmic, or Hootsuite could benefit from a tiered user business model.

In fact, the NYT article goes on to say:

While the survey came up with nobody saying they would pay for the service, we have to imagine it was just missing the proper segment of the population. Our own reader poll (last year, at that) found that 20% said they would pay under $5 a month to use the service, while 66% said they would pay nothing. As for our own Marshall Kirkpatrick? He said that he would easily pay $50 per month for what he gets out of Twitter for a number of reasons.

Here is some of what Kirkpatrick has to say about Twitter:

Twitter is an incredible professional development tool. I know that’s the case for journalists and I strongly suspect that it is or will be used in the same way in lots of other industries. You show me an industry where you can’t find a competitive advantage in learning more, faster and from highly active people in that industry and I’ll show you an industry that I at least am thankful I don’t work in.

Ditto that. When I was freelancing I was getting tons of referrals and leads from Twitter, which like Kirkpatrick paid my rent and car payment. Not too shabby.

Even though I now have a full-time job managing a restaurant, I use Twitter and Facebook to promote and communicate with my customers. I could be using it more and better, and frankly if I had to pay for that access I would. (In addition, the demographics in the region makes the online marketing kinda tough – the locals are not as “plugged-in” as they tend to be in a larger market.)

What are your thoughts on paying for Twitter? Yes, no, maybe? Share in the Comments.

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