Twitter plans to expand advertising business as investment raises value to $8bn

Twitter has outlined plans to increase advertising revenue and avoid an initial public offering (IPO) after reaching more than 100 million active users.

After Twitter secured significant funding earlier this month from a venture capital firm, it now plans to extend advertising revenue streams.

According to the Financial Times, advertising is the only source of revenue for Twitter. Plans include the introduction of displaying promoted tweets, paid by advertisers.

Twitter recently announced it had received significant funding led by Russian venture capital firm Digital Sky Technologies (DST).

DST's funding led to reports the social networking site could be approaching an IPO.

Dick Costolo, chief executive at Twitter, said the company was solvent and planned to remain an independent company, as reported by FT.

Other social networking sites, such as LinkedIn, have already filed for an initial public offering (IPO). However, Twitter said it plans to use funding to innovate, hire more people and invest in international expansion.

In recent weeks reports have been circulating that Twitter was working on a round of investment that would value the private company at about $8bn.

Twitter said 100 million active users are using its service around the world.

"More than half of them log in to Twitter each day to follow their interests. For many, getting the most out of Twitter isn't only about tweeting - 40% of our active users simply sign in to listen to what's happening in their world," said Twitter.