Twitter's Master Plan

I know ... you thought I was going to reveal Twitter's master plan, right? Well despite hundreds of documents leaked to the Internet about Twitter's business, I don't know the definitive answer. However, after the recent $100M investment in Twitter, valuing it at $1B, one can't help but wonder, "What is their plan to make money?"

The hinted innuendos at business-level accounts, verified accounts, and for-pay research tools just don't seem to add up to a whole lot of revenue for Twitter, at least not as a long-term strategy. That got me thinking about what could possibly be their master plan. So I figured I'd go out on a limb.

With so many other companies building their businesses riding Twitter's open-API coattails, it seems that Twitter is building up a health addiction to their open and altruistic platform -- must like heroin dealers do. Well what would happen to the rest of the Twitterverse if Twitter suddenly pulled the rug out from everyone and closed down their API, making it a pay-for-play model? They'd rake in millions in monthly subscriptions from companies and online research services who bank on open access to Twitter's data.

Given, this does seem somewhat counter to Twitter's philosophy to date, but heck, they've got to make money at some point. T. Rowe Price and the other investors weren't exactly making a corporate donation.