Hijacking Twitter Trends

This might be the understatement of the year, but it appears as if Twitter is the next big thing. Yes, I know. I'm arriving at this conclusion a little late. The thing is I really believed that Twitter was just a trend and that it would inevitably go the way of Myspace. And I'm not completely convinced otherwise, but what has made me stop and really give Twitter a second look is its potential to actually make money. After hearing the TechCrunch report that Twitter could possibly sell for one billion dollars, I realized that there are some business savvy people out there who believe that Twitter has the ability to make a lot of money. But how can a company with no advertising and no subscription fees be worth one dollar let alone one billion?

Twitter is the natural next step in the evolution of social networking. It allows users to post short messages that their friends--and the world-- can see and discuss. With an internet culture that revolves around blogs and personal profiles it is obvious that people really like sharing who they are and what they think. Twitter recognizes this desire within the internet community and has become a popular tool for those who want to express their thoughts and ideas (as well as uninteresting tidbits about one's personal life) to anyone who will read them. Twitter clearly has a following, purpose, and a tremendous amount of buzz surrounding it. But does it have the ability to make money?

A recent AM NY article outlined one possible way for Twitter to become a viable (but unfortunately shady) marketing tool. Spammers have begun to utilize what is known as "hashtag abuse" so that tweeters will accidentally stumble upon their spam. In order for spammers to get tweeters to see their messages, they post their message with hashtags of popular trending topics. As more tweeters go to check out what is trending on Twitter, they stumble upon a spammed tweet rather than the latest 140 character comment on Gossip Girl.

Spam is an unpleasant part of the internet that I have no real desire to defend, but its emergence on Twitter is important because it is an indication that real money can be made through Twitter. It remains to be seen what other creative ways of marketing and advertising will sneak onto the site and whether or not Twitter will become like its (finally) money making predecessor Facebook or if it will continue to hemorrhage money a la Myspace or YouTube. Stay tuned as Twitter updates are most definitely on the horizon.