While Stone and his fellow co-founder, Evan Williams, have long floated the idea of commercial accounts, “we’re only just now entering a phase in Twitter’s lifetime where we’re able to develop new products,” Stone said in an interview. He was in Chicago last night, making a presentation at Columbia College.

Much of the last couple of years have been spent building up Twitter’s infrastructure to keep pace with rapid growth, Stone said.

By the end of the year, he plans to introduce features for corporate users that will “make them better Twitterers.” The site will remain free for all users, including businesses. But commercial users may pay more for features such as analytics, which would allow them to monitor traffic and the behavior of people who “follow” them on Twitter.

Speaking broadly about how people use Twitter, Stone said he’s observed them “performing this social alchemy — this process that takes place when you decide to share information openly.” An individual tweeting that he’s drinking a beer at a particular bar may not be significant, for example. But if someone else who’s in the area sees that tweet and joins the first person, and they come up with a new business idea, they’ve turned “lead into gold,” Stone said.

“Twitter has always been about getting people away from their computer” so they go out into the world, then report back what they’ve seen, Stone said.

He believes this phenomenon has the potential for social change, rather than simply feeding consumers’ addiction to their computer and mobile phone screens. Earlier this year, for example, protesters in Iran used Twitter to communicate with each other and disseminate information to millions of readers worldwide.

“We’re moving faster and moving as one,” Stone said. “People are becoming more engaged … By all of us being more informed, we’re becoming more empathetic.”

Twitter Co-Founder Biz Stone Announces Premium Features Planned for Corporate Users at Columbia College Chicago | Chicago Press Release Services - Chicago's leading press release newswire service; professional press release services, press release distribution and newswire services.

Co-Founder of Twitter Speaks at Columbia College Chicago About the Role of Social Media in the 21st Century

Biz Stone, the co-founder of Twitter, a real-time, one-to-many network that is changing the way people communicate around the world, will speak on Tuesday, October 6, beginning at 7:00 p.m. in Columbia’s Film Row Cinema, 1104 S. Wabash, 8th Floor. This event is free and open to the public, however, space is limited and reservations are required. RSVP by Sept. 29 at colum.edu/conversations.

For questions call 312-369-7420.

In addition to co-founding the social media phenomenon Twitter, Biz Stone helped build other popular social media services Xanga, Blogger, and Odeo. After launching the journaling service Xanga in 2000, he went on to publish two books about the origins and social significance of blogging.

In 2003, Google invited Stone to join a recently acquired Blogger.com team at its Silicon Valley headquarters in a full-time, senior role. Stone helped re-launch the service and grow Blogger significantly worldwide. He left Google in 2005 to rejoin the startup world.

Stone, 35, is a native of Boston, Massachusetts and teaches an annual master class at Oxford’s Saïd Business School. In the fall of 2008, he debated and won at Oxford Union against the proposition, “The Problems of Tomorrow Are Bigger Than the Entrepreneurs of Today” along with his esteemed teammates, including Reid Hoffman, founder of LinkedIn.

Serving as an advisor to startups such as answer community Fluther.com, travel service Trazzler.com (which he co-founded), content encouragement service Plinky.com, and the non-profit organization Justgive.org, among others, allows Stone to share much of what he has learned over the past decade.

The speakers that have been a part of Conversations in the Arts exemplify the humanistic qualities and values Columbia College Chicago brings to education.

The past five seasons have brought many legendary cultural figures: Lauren Bacall, Ben Vereen, Mary Tyler Moore, Julie Andrews, James Earl Jones, Debbie Reynolds, Joan Lunden, Richard Roundtree, Salman Rushdie, Jane Alexander, Edward James Olmos, Diahann Carroll, Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni, Jonathan Kozol, Sir Ken Robinson, Anna Deavere Smith, and Richard Florida have all offered a depth of perspective and personal recollection that has created truly memorable experiences.

Future speakers for the 2009-2010 media-focused Conversations in the Arts Series will be Arianna Huffingtion, co-founder and Editor-in-Chief of The Huffington Post news website, and Mira Nair, director of the films Salaam Bombay!, Mississippi Masala, Monsoon Wedding, and Amelia. The history and details regarding Conversations in the Arts along with full biographies of the presenters can be found at colum.edu/conversations.

About Columbia College of Chicago

Columbia College Chicago, an urban institution that provides innovative degree programs in the visual, performing, media and communication arts to nearly 12,500 students in over 120 undergraduate and graduate programs.

A liberal arts college with a “hands-on minds-on” approach to arts and media education, Columbia College Chicago’s programs include film & video, art & design, arts management, television, radio, music, interactive multimedia – all within a liberal arts context. Under the current leadership of President Warrick L. Carter, Ph.D., Columbia is dedicated to opportunity and excellence in higher education.

For further information visit colum.edu.

Biz Stone, Co-founder of Twitter, To Speak at Columbia College Chicago’s “Conversations in the Arts” Oct. 6 | Chicago Press Release Services - Chicago's leading press release newswire service; professional press release services, press release distribution and newswire services.