Twitter, the free micro-blogging service, has confirmed that it will soon offer paid-for “commercial” accounts to give businesses additional features unavailable to casual users.

In the three years since its launch, Twitter has attracted millions of users worldwide, but the site, which currently does not carry any advertising, has not translated its popularity into revenue.

It has long been known that Twitter executives have been looking to build a viable business model around their popular concept, and Twitter cofounder Biz Stone confirmed to the Silicon Valley Insider blog yesterday that it does plan to offer “commercial features” for a fee in the future.

He said that companies and individuals will still be able to Twitter for free if they wish to, and that the “for-sale” features will be add-ons.

“Commercial entities like Whole Foods, Starbucks, Mission Pie, 52 Teas, JetBlue, even the Korean taco truck guy are all on Twitter — users and businesses alike are finding value,” said Mr Stone.

“Our question is, how can we help? What can Twitter offer for a fee that will improve the experience? Will it be account verification? Will it be lightweight analytics? Will there be opportunities for introducing customers to businesses on Twitter?

“So many questions. But the key is to understand that Twitter will remain free for all to use — individuals and companies alike. We are thinking about simple business products that enhance and encourage what is already happening.”

He recently told The Wall Street Journal that Twitter had hired a product manager to oversee the development of commercial accounts. No date has been set for the launch of such accounts.

Twitter was valued at $255 million during a recent round of venture capital funding, according to sources close to the deals. Marketing companies have recently tried to sell advertising using the service, such as the German start-up company Magpie & Friends, which has started paying users for the right to sell ads in their tweets.

However, the company and those using it as a marketing tool have not managed to cash in on its popularity. According to Comscore, Twitter’s traffic in the US, excluding visitors using mobile phones, grew from 6.1 million unique users in January to nearly 9.8 million users in February.

Explore Tech & Web

• Personal Tech

• The Web

• Gadgets & Gaming