15 July 2010 - 10:13@Earlybird, Twitter’s Next Revenue Stream?

Limited-time deals aren’t new to consumers or retailers, but sites that focus on time-sensetive promotions for extraordinary discounts have exploded with popularity. Check out Slickdeals.net and Groupon.com;  they rank as the 171st and 249th most visited sites in the United States, respectively.

Deal of the day, hour or minute; the real-time stream of information via social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook has opened new potential to connect consumers and advertisers under time-sensitive conditions.

Then it comes as no surprise that Twitter has recently launched a new account called @Earlybird, channeling these offerings to followers and also, creating another revenue source in addition to promoted tweets and sponsored trends for the four-year old company.

The creation of @Earlybird, which already has 56,186 followers, may complement the demand of both the consumers and advertisers, but will random promotions keep Tweeters following @Earlybird? How do you separate @Earlybird from just another handle spamming promotions?

Twitter has plans to launch more accounts like @EarlyBird, so stay tuned.