This will surely end up like Facebook's feed, full of sponsored content. I wonder if Twitter would market this to individual users instead of just companies. What to make sure all your friends see your Tweet? Then spend 1 Twitter Stamp. You can buy 50 Twitter Stampfor $5. You can market it as an equivalent to a real stamp. You pay to ensure that your mail gets delivered, right? Well now you can also pay for your Tweet to be delivered. When information and communication is free, its only time an attention that is scarce. So you should be selling that.
Its social media micro transactions. 95% of people would never use it, but that 5% might use it a lot. But you have to make it transparent. You should only push it to people who actively use it. If it gets pushed for every Tweet, it will only highlight the system, which will destroy it.
At 300 million active users (exact numbers debated), if even 1% paid $10 a month for promoted Tweets, that's 30 million a month. That's not pennies. King Games and Supercell (Clash of Clans), have shown that microtransactions are a profitable enterprise when you abuse human reward systems. What better reward to abuse than attention?
Its social media micro transactions. 95% of people would never use it, but that 5% might use it a lot. But you have to make it transparent. You should only push it to people who actively use it. If it gets pushed for every Tweet, it will only highlight the system, which will destroy it.