Report: Twitter to make profit for first time

Bloomberg News is reporting that Twitter will earn $25 million from Internet-search deals with Google and Microsoft and as a result make a profit for the first time.

Twitter will get $15 million from Google and $10 million from Microsoft. Under both agreements, Twitter will make its messages searchable on Google and on Microsoft’s new Bing website.

Twitter has become increasingly popular with politicians; 210 different accounts can be followed at the website Tweetcongress. About twice as many GOP accounts as Democratic accounts are on the site.

2008 GOP vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin has repeatedly used the site to reach her followers, most recently over the weekend when she criticized the Copenhagen climate summit.

But even though the site has found millions of users, it had so far been unprofitable.

Bloomberg said the deals with Google and Microsoft show both companies believe they will profit through advertising. Making information from Twitter users available could provide more relevant search results to shoppers browsing on the websites, Bloomberg reported.