Read another article about the dire straits Twitter find themselves in - http://www.rev2.org/2009/04/24/twitter-spins-out-of-control-the-planets-axis-in-peril/

The service was a bit flaky before the Oprah crowd came along. Would it have been unacceptable to turn it into a paying service say even a month ago?

If Twitter is that important to people would one dollar a year be too much to ask for a service that apparently EVERYONE is using? You would find out how many real accounts are out there and the cost to business would be neglible. In fact businesses could get charged a bit more.

There's money to be made here but I'm surprised they won't bite the bullet.