Twitter找到生財之道

????如果說2010年的主題是增長，2011年Twitter理應開始賺錢。科技界等待這個擁躉者眾多（從美國脫口秀主持人奧普拉到美國總統奧巴馬）的新秀企業能將數以億計的Twitter消息轉化為可持續的買賣。“2011年，他們必須證明自己確實是一樁生意，”2011年1月一位分析師告訴《洛杉磯時報》。

????2012年會嗎？2010年底當迪克?科斯多羅取代共同創始人埃文斯?威廉姆斯出任Twitter首席執行官時，旁觀者期待這位曾經的即興喜劇演員能與廣告主們建立更緊密地合作。在一定程度上，他是成功的。Twitter贏得了星巴克（Starbucks）、可口可樂（Coca-Cola）等超級品牌的廣告。但問題是廣告主們發現可選余地仍然很小。有些項目設計糟糕，看來幾乎不可能達到Twitter用戶中的目標受眾。所有這些不禁讓旁觀者質疑Twitter 80億美元的估值，以及該公司能否在IPO前真正成為一樁生意。

Twitter finds a business plan

????If 2010 was about growth, 2011 was the year Twitter was going to become a business. The tech world waited for the upstart with fans from Oprah to President Obama to turn those hundreds of millions of tweets into something sustainable. "2011 will be the year that they have to prove they are a business," an analyst told the Los Angeles Times in January.

????Make that 2012? When Dick Costolo replaced co-founder Evans Williams as CEO in late 2010, watchers expected the former improv comedian to work closely with advertisers. And to some extent he's been successful. Twitter has attracted business from mega-brands like Starbucks and Coca-Cola. But the problem is that advertisers are still offered limited options. Some programs seem poorly constructed and reaching a target audience among tweeters can be almost impossible. It's all made outsiders question Twitter's $8 billion valuation and whether it can get its act together to resemble a true business before it can hit the public market.