Twitter欲广开财源，新目标瞄准商务

    几乎从第一条140个字符的Tweet发布开始，人们就一直在问，Twitter如何挣钱？最初的答案是“广告经营”，但是，公司的首席执行官狄克•科斯特洛今天表示，“贸易”或许是Twitter公司收入增长的下一个支柱。

    在科罗拉多州阿斯彭市举行的《财富》科技头脑风暴大会（Fortune BrainstormTech）上的一个主题采访中，媒体再次追问科斯特洛公司的商业模式。在谈完公司的各种广告经营策略后——包括最终推出自助式广告的计划，他提到了各种会议组织者和运动团体已经开始使用Twitter为未售出的存货寻找买家。比如，圣地亚哥电光队（San Diego Chargers）就能通过这种方式很快卖掉一场比赛的约1,000张票，否则，这场比赛就会无法登陆当地电视台。Twitter公司目前并未从这种交易中获得收益，但未来有望从中获利。

    科斯特洛说：“只要我们愿意，就能利用眼前的贸易机会。目前，我们要做的是怎样才能减少这一进程中的阻力。”

    他拒绝明确阐释Twitter公司打算如何减少这种阻力——甚至连相关计划是否已经就绪也只字不提——但是，他暗示道，如果电光队的观众不用被迫访问一个完全不同的网站买票的话，电光队的门票销售效率将大大提高。

    科斯特洛还表示，广告经营将继续作为公司最主要的收入来源，包括赞助性的Tweet和赞助性的潮流话题。对于一再提出的有关广告主目前在Twitter上的投入问题，他拒绝透露，至于公司其他方面的财务状况，他也三缄其口。

    2009年年末，科斯特洛加盟Twitter公司担任首席运营官，13个月后，他升任首席执行官。随后，两位联合创始人先后离开，而第三位则回来领衔产品部门。科斯特洛也被问及管理层的这些动荡。近期的《财富》杂志（Fortune）封面报道曾部分报道过此事。而他表示，媒体对联合创始人的这种关注并不恰当，目前的管理团队已经顺利合作了数月之久。

    他说：“特别是杰克和我合作得非常愉快。他是产品的发明人，因此总能侃侃而谈。”

    译者：清远

    Almost from the moment the first 140 characters were tweeted, people have been asking Twitter how it will make money. The initial answer has been "advertising," but company CEO Dick Costolo today suggested that "commerce" might be the next leg of Twitter's revenue stool.

    During a keynote interview at Fortune BrainstormTech in Aspen, Costolo was pressed about his company's business model. After discussing its various advertising options -- including its plans to eventually offer self-serve ads -- he mentioned how conference organizers and sports teams had used Twitter to find buyers for unsold inventory. For example, the San Diego Chargers were able to quickly sell around 1,000 tickets to a game that otherwise would have been blacked out on local television. Twitter itself didn't make any money on those transactions, but may look to do so in the future.

    "There's a commerce opportunity there for us to take advantage of if we want," Costolo said. "How can we remove friction from the process?"

    He declined to explain exactly how Twitter might remove that friction -- or even that a plan was in place -- but did suggest that the Chargers could have sold their tickets even more efficiently were buyers not forced to visit an entirely different website to make their purchase.

    Costolo added that advertising will continue to be the company's dominant revenue component, including sponsored tweets and sponsored trending topics. He declined repeated opportunities to disclose how much advertisers currently spend on Twitter, or any other company financial information.

    Costolo joined Twitter as chief operating officer in late 2009, and was promoted to CEO 13 months later. Since then, two of the company's co-founders have departed and the third has returned to lead product. Costolo was asked about the management tumult, which was partially described in a recent Fortune cover story. He suggested that the focus on the co-founders has been misplaced, and that the current management team has been working together well for months.

    "Jack and I, specifically, work very well together," Costolo said. "He speaks with the fluency of the inventor of the product."