Twitter to launch paid service?

Some for people, 140 characters just isn't enough. Twitter knows this, and as a site widely mocked for having no business model, I expect that they're the ones laughing now with the upcoming introduction of Premier Accounts.

This is from their latest press release:

Premium accounts will come in four tiers: Sparrow, Dove, Owl and Eagle.

The details of the accounts are as follows:

• Sparrow ($5/month) – Users get 145 character limit, 5 extra random followers.


• Dove ($15/month) – Users get 160 character limit, 25 extra random followers, 1 random celebrity follower, auto-spell check, "Fail Whale" T-shirt.


• Owl ($50/month) – Users get 250 character limit, 100 extra random followers, 2 random celebrity followers, 30 minutes on recommended list, auto-spell check and "Fail Whale”" hoodie.


• Eagle ($250/month) – Users get 500 character limit, 1000 extra random followers, 3 celebrity followers of their choice, 5 hours on recommended list each month, Twitter Concierge for Tweeting while user is asleep or busy (and more), auto-spell check, "Fail Whale" tuxedo and custom "Fail Whale" page when service is down.

Whether or not the introduced of these new accounts will be successful when so many Twitters are satisfied with their free accounts remains to be seen, but either way, Twitter, I applaude you for a ballsy move. Good show.