UPDATE Nov. 28/09 – TechCrunch Reports that “Digital Garage has issued a press release stating there won’t be any fee-based services on the site and that Twitter in Japan will remain completely free for the foreseeable future.”
From the press release:
In response to media reports stating that Twitter Japan will be launching a
paid-premium accounts service on Twitter, we would like to officially state that this
is not correct. To be clear, Twitter service in Japan is a free service and neither
Twitter Inc. nor Digital Garage, Inc. (JASDAQ code: 4819, headquartered in
Shibuya-ku, Tokyo, Japan, CEO: Kaoru Hayashi, henceforth DG) have discussed
or have any plans for paid-premium accounts. Also to clarify, Twitter Inc. and
DG enjoy a commercial partnership but do not have a joint-venture arrangement
in Japan.
Thank you to Marc Glasberg for keeping us up to date. He’s also designed a mock up of what a pay / tweet service could look like, using Robert Scoble’s Super-Tweet idea. ( or Twitter Advertising you will love! )
Check it out here: What Twitter Payments Could Look Like
Remainder of this post is now out of date, but will remain unedited because it’s still interesting 
Twitter users in Japan have always had a different experience that those of North American users, and it’s about to get even more unique.
Media magazine, is reporting that Japanese twitter users will be able “to charge audiences who want to look at their tweets and access links to their external websites.”
[The service will] allow audiences to view some text on all tweets but will charge a fee to unlock access to certain images, external URLs and text. Users willing to pay to view the tweets can do so via a monthly subscription model, for which they can use a credit card to pay. They can otherwise buy a prepaid ticket with a credit card or … choose a pay-per-tweet option, which is charged to credit card, convenience store top-up cards or carrier billing for Twitter-on-mobile users.- Media magazine
Readwriteweb is reporting that Twitter itself will take a 30% cut.
Why Twitter Japan?
Twitter operates in Japan through a deal with with Digital Garage. According to Twitter Co-founder Biz Stone the partnership “also includes some commercial experimentation in the Japanese market through it’s subsidiary, CGM Marketing, Inc.”
Up until now the commercial experimentation was limited to advertising, but this latest trail offers new opportunities to individuals and brands alike.
Potential Uses?
Giant Ant Media’s Jay Grandin suggests that the service could be great for content creators looking offer incentives to their audience.
“A guy like Zefrank or a musical group could use a service like that. Instead of selling a $1 podcast or a song for 99 cents, creators could sell them at a discount as an incentive to build their audience around a twitter account. Follow me and not only will you get it first, you’ll get it cheaper”
An Experiment to Watch
Twitter Japan’s use of micro-payments are an experiment to watch. Japanese mobile users have always been a head of the curve and could provide an early look at future opportunities in the North American or European Markets.
Photo Cred: mspecht
About the Author: Jess Sloss is Communications Strategist at Giant Ant Media a Vancouver Video Production Studio. A serial entrepreneur, Jess helps businesses across North America engage their customers using Social Media. Follow him on Twitter
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