The micro-blogging web site Twitter has announced plans to go public with an initial public offering (IPO) estimated to be worth $10 billion. Whilst this is a fraction of the stock market capitalisation of the social network business Facebook, the planned IPO is an important landmark in the growth story of Twitter which now has in excess of 200 million users. Will the floatation change the nature of the business now that investor pressure for higher revenues and profits will intensify? How best can Twitter monetise their product without annoying and aggravating the Twitter user communities? Will investors be limited to 140 shares or less? (!!) For legions of Twitter officiandos this is a story well worth watching in the months to come.

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