Startup Chatter by Donna Bogatin

While Silicon Valley tech bloggers continue to obsess over their free Web 2.0 Twitter service, Silicon Alley mobile content platform Thumbplay continues to drive paying customers to their virtual cash register.

Twitter, What ARE you doing? Besides scrambling to “work the kinks out” of your NOT always on, free-to-the-user, self-described “interesting Web thing that matters to the world,“ you are apparently out seeking millions more in venture capital funding so that perhaps you WILL be able to succeed in “long-term architecture work to make Twitter a utility service people can count on.”

A business model for Twitter apparently continues to be a low priority for the Silicon Valley-based tech early adopter self-promo tool, though. While regularly blogging his affection for his own portfolio investment Twitter, Silicon Alley-based investor Union Square Ventures (USV)’s Fred Wilson also steadfastly publicly dismisses any talk of revenues.

Not surprising: After all, USV portfolio investment Delicious was also a proud free-to-the-consumer Web service sans business model, but still happily achieved its investor goal of a quick flip to a deep-pocketed Web services company, Yahoo.

(Although Wilson nevertheless later dissed Yahoo and Delicious, SEE: NO Deals: Etsy, Twitter, Disqus Lose Google, Yahoo, Microsoft Sales)

Wilson said for both Delicious and Twitter: “To be completely and totally honest, we don’t know yet know” about the business model. REALLY? The real world of closed-door, Twitter and Delicious due diligence undoubtedly included explicit itemization of every conceivable monetization scheme.

Wilson also promised one year ago that “the capital we are investing will go to making Twitter a better, more reliable and robust service.” The massively hyped USV Twitter “viral loop” story has nevertheless spiraled out of technology control.

Viral loop networks are neither care-free or cash-free, despite Wilson’s claim that “viral adoption models are the cheapest way to grow an audience…At no time in history has it been possible to market to so many by starting with so little. Not quite: Ning‘s viral loop battle cry requires a $100 million VC war chest. SEE: Ning: $60M VC for Facebook Fight, AdSense Optional

While West Coast Twitter reportedly is to bank a few more VC millions to prop up an insufficient UGC platform, East Coast mobile entertainment content platform Thumbplay, is going $54 million VC strong, backed most recently by institutional firms seeking “very good public company” opportunities.

In stark contrast to Twitter, Thumbplay is all about making money off of the Mobile Web and proudly hails a revenue generating business model which is paying off. Rather than the typical Web 2.0 striving for early tech adopter fickle love and massive traction among non-paying users, Thumbplay courts paying consumers and monetizable alliances.

For Are Traasdahl, Thumbplay’s CEO and founder, a quick VC flip is not the ultimate end game. He sought public market investors for the startup‘s Series E round earlier this year:

“The high quality of our new investors is very significant, since both typically invest in companies which offer opportunities to realize substantial long-term capital appreciation,” Brookside Capital Partners, the public equity affiliate of Bain Capital, and Cross Creek Capital, a private equity affiliate of Wasatch Advisors.

The funding rationale: