Google Inc. and Microsoft Corp. are both courting microblogging service Twitter Inc. because of its search ad revenue potential, according to a report Thursday.

A Wall Street Journal blog reported that many experts think Twitter’s instant 140-character [...]]]> Report: Google, Microsoft court Twitter
by Silicon Valley / San Jose Business Journal
Thursday, April 9, 2009

Google Inc. and Microsoft Corp. are both courting microblogging service Twitter Inc. because of its search ad revenue potential, according to a report Thursday.

A Wall Street Journal blog reported that many experts think Twitter’s instant 140-character format will be next big thing for search, which is dominated now by Mountain View-based Google (NASDAQ:GOOG), with Redmond, Wash.-based Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) lagging behind.

Earlier this month media reports said Google was in talks to buy Twitter, with figure of $250 million to $1 billion bandied about.

Twitter co-founder Biz Stone downplayed but didn’t refute the rumors in a blog post later, writing “It should come as no surprise that Twitter engages in discussions with other companies regularly and on a variety of subjects,” he said. “Our goal is to build a profitable, independent company and we’re just getting started”

A deal for Twitter has long been rumored.