DISCLAIMER: Not all of these external links are SFW – you can guess which one isn’t.

In the deluge of links to news stories, online games or sites of interest that fly ’round my network I was directed to this site on Friday –  http://pornstartwitter.com/ (NSFW). While obviously not lingering on the site too long, it did get me wondering as to whether the porn industry has the ability to help solve the ongoing questions of how you make money out of Twitter.

For those of you who don’t already know, pornography has been around a pretty long time, some would argue for as long as life itself. Twitter however, has just celebrated its third birthday – the two hardly compare. One promotes, quick, short and regular interactions with individuals, while the other promises marginally longer exchanges with equally as fickle relations – I will let you decide which is which. So why utter the two in the same sentence?

Scratch the surface a little deeper and you might start to see some similarities. The porn industry is as pervasive in everyday life today as it is innovative. Hear about the Beta Max versus VHS format war? Well legend would have you believe that that war was ultimately won by the porn studios choosing the side of VHS. Toshiba’s HD-DVD versus Sony’s Blu-Ray? Yup, porn again. As for Twitter, I urge you to try and find one of your many ‘friends‘ who aren’t already ‘tweeting’ about their exceptionally ordinary daily lives. But what about innovation? Well you only have to look so far as the applications that are springing up on an almost daily basis to satisfy user demand for new Twitter tools and services.

So what can Twitter and social media platforms as a whole learn from the porn industry? According to Harvard alum, Peter Burrows “Pornography…is a positive good that encourages experimentation with new media“, concluding that “It urges consenting adults, uninhibited by censorship, to look for novel ways to use the new media and novel ways to make money out of the new uses.” Now hang on a second – isn’t that exactly the issue that Twitter is currently facing? Last time I checked, many a monetization policy has been suggested (three here alone), but none, as yet I should add, have been implemented.

Now back to my original find – http://pornstartwitter.com/. Content aside (ahem), this site is ahead of the curve when compared to many Twitter mash-ups I have seen. Firstly, it feeds all of your “favorite” stars to a single destination, providing one site for all the content you needs (convergence anyone). Secondly, each and every tweet provides the reader the option to click through to sites where you can BUY content (click through revenue). Finally, it features ads and highly targeted ones at that (yes I appreciate that it’s easier on a site like this).

Why not consider this as a concept to encourage businesses to use Twitter to promote their brand. Could Twitter create more advanced, more interactive templates to allow companies an easier way to market itself and sell its products? Yes. Could they charge for this? Absolutely. Take it a step further and consider adding the ability to have a customer representative (or star of your choice if you’re pornstartwitter.com) call you directly just by clicking on a button on a unique tweet. It wouldn’t be hard for Twitter to partner with a company such as JAJAH.com (disclaimer they are a Bite client) to offer this as a service and charge a nominal fee for it.

Now I’m no Web guru, so far be it for me to say what Twitter should and shouldn’t be doing but if history rings true again – perhaps following the porn industry’s lead once again isn’t that far off the mark. Would love to hear your thoughts on the rise and potential fall of Twitter and where you see this latest fad/trend going?

Follow me on Twitter: @benwhitesf

Tagged as: Bite, pr, Public Relations, Social Media, Technology, twitter