Twitter's rolling out yet another new feature, but this one could be instrumental in fixing two of Twitter's biggest problems: finding a business model and jump-starting its stalled growth.
Twitter is launching a new API (application programming interface) that will allow anybody to sign up for Twitter from a third party application or Web site. The new Twitter Sign-Up API has not been released publicly, but it has just found its first implementation with popular online local guide Citysearch.
The integration itself is rather straightforward. If you're a business with a profile on Citysearch, you can now link up your Twitter account to that page or create one right there within Citysearch. If you create a new profile or claim one for your business (this is a new feature as of today), these options will also appear. Afterwards, tweets from your business will appear on your Citysearch business page. According to the company, this is the first time anybody has been able to sign up for Twitter externally.
To us, this seems to be just the beginning of a major move by Twitter to reach out and find new users, wherever they may be. Twitter was able to grow at a rapid clip for the first half of this year, but since then has hit a growth ceiling that it's been unable to get past. It makes sense to give people the ability to sign up through other popular Web sites and apps. While Citysearch is the only one using the Sign-Up API currently, they certainly won't be a last.
The API also has shades of a future Twitter business model. It's interesting that Twitter chose Citysearch to be the first to use the API. It's clearly targeting businesses with this move. With the likelihood of paid accounts for businesses and brands coming this year, it's understandable why Twitter's focusing on these businesses and business users.