My attitude used to be ‘Why would anyone pay for services on the web when there are so many free services out there?’
My attitude now is ‘If I were running a company account, and my reputation and brand depended on using services that are currently free, I’d be willing to pay for an account that guarantees me security’.
By security I mean that I have the comfort that some hacker will not hijack my Twitter account, that the private cli.gs I am creating are not replaced with some bogus blog post, etc. So really, I don’t want to pay for your service, but I do want to pay for a guarantee that my information, brand, messaging, everything I am choosing to place on your service is safe with you. That’s one way I can see Twitter, or any other social media platform currently struggling with a model, making money. And that’s what I see as one less barrier to the adoption of social media tools by larger corporations. Yes, it’s fantastic to want to engage and converse and build relationships with peers and customers alike, but I’m sorry, it’s still too much of a risk.
Show me a Twitter platform or a private link tracking system that I can trust 100% and I’d love to jump on board, use the tools… and even pay you for your service.
I agree with you to a point, but if you had a corporate account hacked on Twitter that would mean you are doing something right or something wrong. Either way, it would mean you are important to someone/group. Now, I don’t know that exec’s would see it that way, but I would.
I think there is a place to include some verification processes, but there is always going to be risk in having a conversation and I think that needs to be accepted upfront.