It’s mildly funny and very obviously a hoax, but this article on humour site BBspot didn’t stop many a Twitter user from thinking it is real.

The author of the post mocks Twitter’s lack of an apparent business model after 3 years in operation, and writes that the startup’s CEO Evan Williams today finally announced plans to introduce a paid premium account scheme. Never mind that the news would have gotten broken on an obscure blog when the U.S. is mostly asleep, but other things should have given away that this concerns a hoax.

For instance, the words.

Premium accounts will come in four tiers: Sparrow, Dove, Owl and Eagle.

The details of the accounts are as follows:

- Sparrow ($5/month) – Users get 145 character limit, 5 extra random followers.

- Dove ($15/month) – Users get 160 character limit, 25 extra random followers, 1 random celebrity follower, auto-spell check, “Fail Whale” T-shirt.

- Owl ($50/month) – Users get 250 character limit, 100 extra random followers, 2 random celebrity followers, 30 minutes on recommended list, auto-spell check, “Fail Whale” hoodie.

- Eagle ($250/month) – Users get 500 character limit, 1000 extra random followers, 3 celebrity followers of their choice, 5 hours on recommended list each month, Twitter Concierge for Tweeting while user is asleep or busy (and more), auto-spell check, “Fail Whale” tuxedo, custom “Fail Whale” page when service is down.

As I said, only mildly funny but so blatantly tongue in cheek that I’m surprised that so many are buying it (pun intented).

That said, what would be your opinion if Twitter would turn charging users for premium accounts into a revenue stream, instead of what it seems they’re actually doing (paving the way for text advertising on-site)?