Twitter still seeking ways to cash in

Stone, a former Google employee who helped set up the social networking site two years ago, said on Wednesday the service is still "figuring out" the correct business model even with more than 50 million users.

"Google is very much of a role model for us," he told the World Knowledge Forum in Seoul, according to Yonhap news agency.

"What is most important for us is not to focus on that (profits) but to focus on building value for our users."

Stone said the introduction of fee-based commercial accounts before the end of the year was part of efforts to find ways to generate profits.

The company confirmed in March that it was looking at such accounts, a way for corporate users to better target their Twitter interaction with potential customers.

Despite the search for revenue, Stone said his main interest at present was the open and transparent exchange of information.

"That's higher on our list of priorities than creating revenues because we still have time," he was quoted as saying.

Twitter's simplicity, he said, would also give it an edge over other social networking sites or search engines.

Twitter users send "tweets" -- messages no longer than 140 characters -- over the Internet through computers and mobile devices which are picked up by "followers".

"Met some great people at the World Knowledge Forum," Stone said in his latest update. "Now I'm fighting Seoul traffic to catch the last flight out to Tokyo."

(c) 2009 AFP