Twitter launches new business site – will corporate users help Twitter finally make money?

More signs have emerged that social networking site Twitter will reveal its model for generating revenue after launching Twitter 101, a site that explains to corporate users how to make and gain the most out of their Twitter accounts.

Twitter is rumoured to be looking to business customers in order to gain the $US4.4 million revenue goal by 2010 that was noted in recently stolen corporate documents.

The Twitter 101 website offers advice for businesses on how to set up, use and then leverage their accounts to help their business. It also uses case studies from large companies such as Dell, JetBlue and Pepsi to give advice on how to engage with customers.

The Twitter 101 site, which can also be downloaded as PDF files, says that businesses can use Twitter to share information with customers interested in their company, gather “real-time market intelligence and feedback” and build relationships with prospective customers.

“You don’t have to run a bike shop or a relatively small company to get good stuff out of Twitter,” the site claims. “Businesses of all kinds, including major brands, increasingly find that listening and engaging on the service lead to happier customers, passionate advocates, key product improvements and, in many cases, more sales.”

“For instance, let’s say you run a big retail website. In addition to learning more about what your customers want, you can provide exclusive Twitter coupon codes, link to key posts on your blog, share tips for shopping online, and announce specials at store locations.”

Chief executive and founder Biz Stone said last week Twitter 101 is a response to some confusion in the market, as many businesses and individuals still do not know how to use an account despite the site’s popularity.

“The level of engagement is less than the level of awareness about it, and we want to change that,” Stone said.

Stone wrote on the site’s blog that the “wide variety of business” using the site prompted it to find out how users were making the most from their accounts, and then spread that knowledge to prospective users.

“We coordinated with business students and writers to surface some interesting findings, best practices, steps for getting started and case studies. The results demonstrate how customers are getting value out of Twitter and suggest techniques businesses can employ to enhance that value. While this work was envisioned for businesses, it’s also useful for anyone using Twitter, so have a look if you like.”

The new site appears on a new sub-domain, “business.twitter.com”, leading some analysts to believe that Twitter will soon move all of its corporate clients onto the new domain when the expected revenue model is implemented.