TWITTER’S EXPECTED ADVERTISING BOOM IN 2011

Analysts are predicting that 2011 will be a banner year for Twitter as the microblogging site’s advertising revenue to not just double but triple by the end of this year. While it has yet to match or even top competitors Facebook and Google, Twitter’s market share has been steadily growing as the site’s user popularity continues soaring.

Computer Weekly recently reported that the site is poised to generate $150 million in ad revenue this year alone, tripling its $50 million take in 2010. Moreover, The Business Insider expects that by 2012 Twitter will earn $250 million, five times that of its 2010 earnings in a brief two-year period.

While these numbers will certainly lend confidence to the website’s drive to become as huge as Facebook there are still hurdles to overcome. While Facebook boasts an active user base of 600 million, Twitter current has only 175 million active microbloggers. Mark Zuckerberg’s social networking giant also generates approximate $600 million in yearly revenue.

However, what Twitter does have on its side is time given that it is still a much younger site than Facebook and has grown by leaps and bounds over the past couple of years. In order to reach the next growth stage though, it will need to continue expanding its user base as well as prove its advertising effectiveness to brands and other business.

If it is able to achieve those tasks, then growth-wise there is no reason to believe that Twitter can stand next to Facebook as a genuine social networking equal in terms of size and profitability.