Twitter set to adopt Google ads model

Twitter, the social networking phenomenon, is considering a move to bring in advertising revenues in a similar way to Google.

The micro-blogging site, where users post messages of no more than 140 characters, is said to be working on a model that would enable it to post adverts tied to searches on the site, as it looks to take advantage of its huge growth to monetise its business model. Users now send 50 million "tweets" every day, up from 5,000 in 2007.

For the past six months, executives have been working on different ways in which they could make money from advertising, although nothing official has been announced as yet. According to the AllThingsDigital blog, insiders are at an early stage in developing the search-related model. This comes shortly after a Twitter executive told a conference that the group's advertising platform was close to being launched.

The online search model was pioneered by Google, where 97 per cent of its $24bn revenue comes from advertising.

On its official blog, Twitter last May refuted claims that it "hated" advertising, even though it did not have any on its site. They said that while banner advertising was not of interest, "to say we are philosophically opposed to any and all advertising is incorrect". Four months later, the group changed its terms of service for users in a bid to "leave the door open for advertising".