Okay, so how is Twitter going to make money if it’s free?

Just read a great post by Adrants on Twitter still seeking a business model and still getting slammed two years on. The getting slammed part came particularly from Simon Dumenco who is a definite non-believer in the benefits of Twitter, especially if its a project which fails to make any money.

While Twitter has said and continues to say it has every intention of creating a business model which will support it beyond seed money, reading the revenue-generating notion “one idea is to charge companies th at want to use Twitter as an official channel to talk with their customers and monitor what they are saying,” causes one to ROFLOL to the point of gut-busting pain.

Charge companies? Charges companies? For what? Any company with half a brain already has access to an endless supply of free “listening” tools that offer fairly deep insight into Twitter usage and what’s being said about a particular brand.

Dumenco concludes not so inappropriately, writing, “I don’t think every tweet or blurp or bloop or fart that emanates from a human can or should have ads sold against it or be otherwise monetized.”

Of course Twitter is far more than any “blurp or bloop or fart that emanates from a human” , but still the man has a point. Twitter could charge a yearly fee to use the service, but then what should they charge? I certainly wouldn’t pay to follow a bunch of people talking about what they had for breakfast, or if they just came out for the shower, refreshed. Then again, if you’re paying for the service, maybe people who are really interested in adding value would buy into it and utilise it instead of it being just another social media plaything for the ever-growing population of digerati.

Another benefit of charging for it is that it would save us all from a barrage of useless advertising should Twitter opt for the advertising route.

I don’t know… maybe there is some creative way in which Twitter can make a good business model out of what they provide without totally pissing us all off. I hope they find it!

What do you think they should do?

While I’m here… :)

Blast from the Past: “Jesus Use Me”

Link

Ummm… No.

Have You Seen This Cat?

Link

Blog Action Day: Conquering Poverty in South Africa

Today is Blog Action Day: The Conversation on Poverty

With regards to the current context in South Africa, poverty is ,and always has been, a very big problem.  Most people even point this out as the source of all the other problems which South Africans face on a day-to-day basis.  Things like violent crime, lack of education, corruption, etc. are all rampant in South Africa at the moment.

But let’s not all this deter us from one simple fact: WE ARE DOING NOTHING! except, ofcourse, COMPLAINING.  Right, get off your asses and high horses and do something concrete to uplift your communities.  There are NGO’s and other institutions available and you also have your own God-given brain to figure something out to help out people who really do need helping out.

So if you never gave a 5cent piece to the guy at the traffic light begging for change, make a change and start with that. however, I do urge you to aim a little higher ;)

Here’s some South African Welfare organisations which are pretty active in helping out the indigent…

• Gift of the Givers Foundation – The Waqful Waqifin (Gift of the Givers) Foundation is a humanitarian relief organisation supporting the impoverished worldwide.

• Al Imdaad Foundation – The Al Imdaad Foundation is a non-profit humanitarian aid organisation, registered in South Africa.

• Muslim Hands (South Africa) – Muslim Hands is an international relief organisation. Website features reports from projects. Online donation system available.

• Islamic Relief – Islamic Relief provides you with an opportunity to support the poor locally and internationally, by assisting widows, orphans, disabled and the illiterate.

These are the Muslim organisations I could find off hand which are doing really good work in South Africa to alleviate poverty, not only from helping people out, but also from upgrading their skills and education to help them help themselves.  Please send me links so I can add to this list of other organisations in South Africa so that we can get moving with uplifting communities out of Poverty!

The Conversation Agent site gives 3 things we can do to alleviate poverty in one way or another:
1) Volunteering
2) Mentoring
3) Giving

Let’s try and do at least one of these things on an individual level to help those less fortunate than us.

Peace.
: Activism, South Africa, Blog Action Day, Volunteering, Giving, Mentoring

Chuck Norris and the Global Credit Crisis

I got this on e-mail and found it Hilarious!

Chuck Norris can borrow at the discount window

Chuck Norris can sell $300bln in high yield loans before lunch

Chuck Norris’s curves are never inverted

Chuck Norris doesn’t hedge . He waits.

Chuck Norris doesn’t target inflation. He roundhouse-kicks it
until it begs for mercy.

The Chuck Norris dollar buys 3 Canadian dollars, and trades at
parity with the euro.

Chuck Norris doesn’t supply collateral, only collateral damage.

The tears of Chuck Norris would supply enough liquidity to solve
the credit crisis. Too bad he never cries.

When the yield on a Chuck Norris bond goes up, the price also
rises.

Chuck Norris trades on fear and greed simultaneously.

Alan Greenspan calls Chuck Norris “The Maestro.”

Chuck Norris has already banked his dividend payment from Northern
Rock Plc.

Chuck Norris doesn’t borrow at the Fed’s discount window. Chuck
Norris LENDS at the Fed’s discount window.

There is no market regulator. Just a list of securities Chuck
Norris allows to be traded.

Chuck Norris doesn’t buy gold to hedge against inflation. Gold
buys Chuck Norris to hedge against inflation.

Chuck Norris charges the Bank of England a penalty rate for
borrowing. And guarantees its deposits.

Chuck Norris gets ALL of his funding from the asset-backed
commercial paper market.

Chuck Norris doesn’t mark-to-market. The market marks to Chuck
Norris.

When the U.S. economy sneezes, the world catches a cold. When
Chuck Norris sneezes, the U.S. economy catches pneumonia.

Chuck Norris thinks Credit Crunch is a breakfast cereal

Chuck Norris isn’t a market maker; he IS the market.

Chuck Norris subprime collateralized debt obligations still trade
at 100 percent of face value.

Chuck Norris has a trade surplus with China.