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To me, the most important question to answer is whether Twitter wants to be a directory or a utility. Directories get paid for organizing stuff and making it easier for advertisers and users to find each other. Google does this. The Yellow Pages does this. It’s a good business because it helps people on both sides of the transaction and there’s a precedent for the directory company to take a cut of the transactions they enable.

Utilities don’t work like that. Utilities get paid for providing a service, maintaining uptime, and generally being available for use. This is what your local power and cable companies do. It’s a totally different business - you don’t pay your phone company every time you close a deal on the phone. Utilities by and large function on access and usage fees - they don’t (and shouldn’t) get in the business of siphoning off a chunk of the transactions they enable.