As rumors swirl, Twitter says no rush for business model

Computerworld - Despite rampant speculation and angst in the blogosphere about Twitter Inc.'s lack of revenue, co-founder Biz Stone says there's no rush for the social network to come up with a business plan.

There is, he noted in an interview with Computerworld last week, plenty of money in Twitter's coffers -- so why rush?

"It's not tough for us because we have a lot of money in the bank and patient investors [and a] patient board," said Stone, adding that the company first wants to focus on growing the network, increasing its user base and adding new features to the site. "We want to focus on this before profit. If we focus on profit, then we take people away from focusing on features."

Online pundits and bloggers have been closely eyeballing Twitter and criticizing the company's lack of a business plan, doling out dire warnings about the future of the microblogging site unless it comes up with a viable strategy for making money sometime very soon.

A Wall Street Journal blog post written by Kara Swisher on Thursday is whipping up the rumor mill again.

About a week after rumors flew saying that Google Inc. was in talks to buy Twitter, Swisher's post led to reports that Google and Microsoft Corp. are sparring to grab a piece of Twitter's potential search advertising revenue.

Last week, Stone told Computerworld that Twitter has been working to upgrade its search feature. While the search link now sits at the bottom of the page, Stone wants to put it front and center, making it a prominent part of the Twitter interface.

"Our plans are to get it in front of everyone and let people really get access to it," said Stone, who noted that the upgrade is now being tested internally and should be rolled out soon. "I think it's huge. It adds a huge layer of relevancy for Twitter. Some people aren't sure what to use Twitter for and then they search and understand."

He added that the search feature won't take you to a new page when you hunt for something. Instead, it will "refocus" what you're looking at. Twitter also is looking to make it possible for people to save their searches, since many users tend to search for the same thing over and over.

"It's really about real-time search," said Stone. "I heard a noise outside my house. I searched 'Berkeley and noise' and someone had just Twittered about Radiohead playing. Once you enter the realm of real-time, you open up to all the possibilities."

And there's plenty of speculation now that one possibility involving real-time search is that a major player, like Google or Microsoft, will figure out a way to make money off of it.