D7: Twitter Considers Premium Services for SMBs and Pros

Conjuring up Twitter‘s business model takes a lot of imagination. But founders Evan Williams and Biz Stone, speaking at The Wall Street Journal’s D conference in Carlsbad, California, said the name of the game will be “enhanced capabilities” aimed at small- business and professional users — something supported by a WSJ poll showing that 24 percent of Twitter users would pay for it.

“Twitter is information dissemination,” said Williams, on video from the conference. Small businesses use it to connect to their customers and build relationships. Commercial users use it for customer support and marketing communications.

One capability that is being discussed is to show “who is behind the Twitter account,” Williams noted. “Maybe that is something we reveal. Authenticity is important on organizational accounts.”

Williams added that the 45-person company is focused on three things going forward: scaling, beefing up the value proposition, and making it easier to “get at tons and tons of information. We disseminate information and build relationships continually,” he summarized. “Everyone has a use for one or both of these things.”