• by Catharine P. Taylor , January 14, 2009

Back in November, you may remember that  this column asked for tweets outlining what Twitter's business model should be. The best ideas will be presented at OMMA Social San Francisco, at a panel that will be moderated by Justin Fishner-Wolfson of Founders Fund. (Gratuitous plug: as the event is less than two weeks from now, on Jan. 26t at the Hotel Nikko, time to  sign up! It's going to be great!)

So now, after sorting through almost three dozen entries, it's time to tell you all who's going to present, and what their ideas are. Without further ado, save for a drum roll, here they are:

From Apogee Search natural search specialist Lauren Perdue:  "Ads will disrupt twhirl et al.; sub. model based on TPM rate. Doesn't punish occasional users & feeds off tweet addicts who won't mind paying." (OK, gang, I had to ask, too -- TPM is tweets per month.)

From Uwe Hook, senior vice president, media, at Direct Partners: "Charge each company in the CPC model: Each visit to a corporate Twitter site and each corporate tweet should be charged just like a click."

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From Paul Chaney, Internet marketing director at Bizzuka.com and president of the International Blogging and New Media Association: "Twitter should offer a premium version for biz use, similar to Yammer. Create private networks. Charge based on # of users. Def. winner!" (Yeah, he did squeeze in an editorial aside, and we fell for it.)

From creative director and digital marketing consultant Jason Bucky: "Users must follow any 5 'sponsored feeds' of their choice from list. Sponsored feeds compete to add real value so chosen and actually read."

Other entries that came close:

From Gregory Ng, vice president/creative director, Brooks-Bell Interactive: "Use hashtag function for affiliate programs, loyalty programs, and customer surveys. Twitter manages and reports. Companies pay for service."

From Rob Birgfeld of SmartBrief:  "Twitter charges advertisers for opt-in local coupon/announcement tweets by region/zip. i.e.'tonight's 5pm showtimes are 2-4-1 at landmark.'"

From Chris Cunningham and Michael Burke of AppSavvy:  "License Twitter to media outlets, product companies and communication platforms. The result = paying customers with increased exposure."

Perhaps it's at least as interesting to discover what ideas got rejected. While there were some choices that were difficult to pass on, such as introducing sponsored tweet categories, it seemed generally antithetical to the Twitter experience when entrants suggested doing things like selling the home page. Somehow, new media seem to cry out for models that, if not entirely new, are at least a twist on old ones.

Now, what would be great is if the Social Media Insider community would comment below with what questions you would ask the panelists. Be kind, but be tough. And as for the folks at Twitter, hope you're listening!