Twitter launches business guide

The firm is offering advice on how the make money from microblogging

Twitter is planning to launch new revenue-generating services

Twitter today launched a guide - Twitter 101 - advising businesses on how they can use the microblogging site for commercial purposes.

The move is expected to be followed later this year by the launch of a range of add-on services designed to generate revenue for the company.

Speaking to Reuters, Twitter co-founder Biz Stone said the add-on services could include account certification, adding that another possible way to generate revenue would be through the data that Twitter collects about its users.

The Twitter 101 site contains a lot of information that many business users may already be aware of, pointing out that "as a business, you can use Twitter to quickly share information with people interested in your company, gather real-time market intelligence and feedback, and build relationships with customers, partners and other people who care about your company".

But the guide also contains several case studies detailing how leading companies are already exploiting the technology. For example, Dell Outlet, a division of the hardware giant that deals in refurbished kit, estimates it has generated more than $3m in revenue through its Twitter posts.

Meanwhile according to Reuters, Stone has ruled out the possibility of Twitter entering into acquisition talks with Google or any other company. Citing a company forecast posted on the TechCrunch site that Twitter would generate $4m in revenue by the fourth quarter of 2009, and grow to 5,200 staff and 1 billion users by the end of 2013, Stone said, "We're thinking big and we're in it for the long haul."