Twitter can’t make money, there’s no more mail delivery and giant Dick Tracy netbook watches.

Tired of the Bill Beancast yet? Course you’re not. Hey, he keeps having me back, I’m going bitches. This week Scott Monty from Ford and Jamie Turner from 60 Second Marketer discuss all those things and more!!! (Someone told me exclamation points = excitement). Download the show directly here. Topic list here.

A few additional thoughts on the show, specifically about Twitter.

At one point, we talked about how the site will possibly announce this new way to make money for itself. Great. Awesome. But my point’s always been, the average user doesn’t care how or if a site like that makes money: They just want to know they can still have a place to go—for free. (Unless of course the site starts charging them money. More on that in a sec.)

Typical of sites like Twitter and the general Web 2.whoa entrepreneurial mindset is to launch a site that has maybe 80% of what it should in terms of features, build a critical mass of followers, then figure out how to make money, then improve as you go should additional funding come through.

Which is where Twitter’s at.

I mentioned to Scott that Twitter could just rent out the background page to Ford or any other brand, either by the hour, day, etc. People in general have been dancing around the subject of how to advertise on sites like this, well, just advertise then.

To clarify, I don’t mean some obnoxious full-page ad, but something done with the API so that the page becomes more engaging and relevant to the viewer similar to how Zappos and others have used Twitter. (Maybe it’s special offers based on a zip code you enter. Whatever.) Point is, I know it can't just be the typical screaming at consumers that brands have always done.

Point was raised that many people don’t even use the interface rather, they use a desktop app like Twhirl or Tweetdeck. Fair enough, but not everyone, and for those who do, you’d need to find a way to send them back to Twitter’s page.

Which is where a paid service comes. One that offers people the same if not better features than those apps and takes back some of that appeal. Right now, there’s no incentive to use the Twitter main page because so many third-party apps offer far more features.

As for Twitter charging users? How much does MySpace cost you. YouTube? Facebook? Last.fm or other music site? A pay service would kill Twitter. I do not know of any site or service online that charges people for using it. (But if Twitter finds a way to make this work by charging people, watch the others follow suit.)

I’m even stretching things a bit when I say the only things that remotely come to mind are Rhapsody and TypePad. A few may charge for advanced features, (Imeem to avoid ads), but the overwhelming majority of popular sites are free.

The other thing a pay service won’t do is eliminate the marketing wannabe’s who will still pay to hang with the A-list. Oh, and you also think because you’re paying now that Shaq is going to be any more interested in talking with you? Good luck with that. Nor am I paying just so I can be in the same space as a guy who can Guarantee me 10,000 followers in two days!!!!!!

(I’ll pay if they can add a translation service that makes Shaq’s typing more legible. Kids, be like Mike as long as you don’t type like Shaq. Diesel, nothing but love big man.)

Tags: The Beancast