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May 19, 2009 5:22 AM PDT

Biz Stone on Twitter: No ads

by Caroline McCarthy
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Twitter co-founder Biz Stone said at the Reuters Technology Summit on Monday that the ubiquitous microblogging start-up isn't considering an advertising-based business model at all.

The whole "we'll make money by offering corporate accounts of some sort" mantra has been talked about by Twitter's founders quite a bit recently. But until this point, Stone and co-founder Evan Williams haven't been quite this explicit in ruling out advertising altogether.

"There are a few reasons why we're not pursuing advertising--one is, it's just not quite as interesting to us," Stone said at the event.

Man, it sure is nice to be so high in Silicon Valley's pecking order that you can rule out a business model just because it's boring!

The other reason: Hiring an ad sales staff is labor-intensive, Stone told Reuters. Ads can also be intrusive to users. Now that makes a bit more sense.

The long-awaited Twitter business model, which the Reuters article describes as "various add-on tools and services for the businesses and professional users of Twitter," should be in effect by the end of the year.

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About The Social

CNET News' Caroline McCarthy is a downtown Manhattanite who believes that, despite popular opinion, the Web can actually help your social life. She's happily addicted to fun social-media tools from Twitter to Yelp to Facebook, sends an inordinate number of text messages, and has a tendency to waste time at the office reading restaurant blogs. Here, she explores all facets of the Web's gregarious side, as well as the unique tech culture in her home city of New York. (Don't call it Silicon Alley.)

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