[alphakappa]

But they are also an Internet company where the ad signups are done online, so it's not immediately obvious why they would have all those salespeople. (Not saying that they don't need a large number of salespeople, but that it isn't an immediately obvious need)

[Touche]

Sales isn't about doing the paperwork of getting you signed up for a service. Sales is about convincing you to buy the service. Twitter doesn't have an automated system to convince companies to spend millions buying ads, they have salespeople, like every other sales company.

[hoka]

Yes most signups are done online via a self-serve system; however, there is a lot of money to be made if you can produce custom deals, content, and ad placement with bigger partners.

[judk]

Guess how many salespeople Google has.

[ggreenbe]

Any chance you know? Would be interested to know their numbers vs twitter.

[dangrossman]

"Several thousand" according to WSJ.

[extesy]

They are not selling accounts. They are selling advertising opportunities to businesses.