Twitter has found a monetization method: allowing followers to make purchases of products and services via tweet-embedded links to e-commerce sites, and by offering an instant payment mechanism to buy from within Twitter itself.
It’s as though eBay and Facebook got together and had a love child named “Business Model.”
Twitter investor and board member Todd Chaffee told the New York Times that the microblogging site is planning a strategy to allow Tweeted links to products and “turnkey payment mechanisms.” The company is exploring how to enable the idea.
Businesses have been using Twitter to send out promotions and product information to interested followers, Google Alert-fashion, but the next step would be allowing followers to buy the advertised product right then and there.
“Commerce-based search businesses monetize extremely well,” Chaffee told the Times. “As people use Twitter to get trusted recommendations from friends and followers on what to buy, e-commerce navigation and payments will certainly play a role in Twitter monetization.”
