Twitter changes terms of use to allow advertising

Twitter has moved a step closer to executing its plans to pump revenue from the popular social networking site by revising the micro-blogging website’s terms to explicitly allow advertising.

The new terms, put in place over the weekend, say “the services may include advertisements, which may be targeted to the content or information on the services, queries made through the services, or other information.”

“In consideration for Twitter granting you access to and use of the services, you agree that Twitter and its third-party providers and partners may place such advertising on the services,” they say.

But founder Biz Stone says there are no plans to introduce the ads immediately. “We leave the door open for advertising. We’d like to keep our options open, as we’ve said before,” Stone wrote on Twitter’s official blog.

The move follows Stone’s earlier announcements that the two-year-old network, which has 45 million users, would focus on generating revenue in 2009.

In March, Twitter announced it would start selling sponsorship of a designated site that compiled tweets posted by corporate executives. It has since said it will introduce paid accounts for companies which want to have a brand presence on the service.

But Stone told an advertising conference earlier this year that putting banner advertisements on the site was “probably the least interesting thing we could do”.

Other possibilities for delivering the ads include displaying them on users’ home pages, next to search terms, or even in the Twitter feeds themselves.

But Brand Finance Australia managing director Tim Heberden said the company would introduce ads as “softly as possible”.

“The last thing they want to do is alienate users. I expect it will be done very subtly,” he says.

“If users do start to feel intruded on – if they feel Twitter is no longer a private communication, and companies are butting on what has been a personal experience, or if the right language is not used in ads – this will immediately detract from usership. Twitter is very aware of this.”

Stone has previously said the company’s priority is to maintain and grow its user base, which has grown exponentially since the company began.

Unique visitors to Twitter increased 1,382% from 475,000 in February 2008 to 7 million in February 2009, according to figures from Nielsen Online.

Earlier this year, a Facebook acquisition offer valued Twitter at US $500 million.