For marketers, the big Twitter story is all about the popularity the microblogging service has generated for a handful of brands so far, including JetBlue, Comcast and the National Basketball Association, reports Advertising Age's Michael Learmonth. Comcast uses the powerful messaging tool to address customer service issues, the NBA uses it to keep users up to date on the latest news and scores, and JetBlue's Morgan Johnston, manager of corporate communications, uses Twitter to create "a deeper level of engagement with our customers that fosters loyalty." JetBlue has just over 200,000 followers, while the NBA has 140,000 in just two …

PaidContent reports that The Walt Disney Company and Google are close to settling a series of programming deals with Google's YouTube that would see clips from ESPN, ABC and other Disney properties appear on the Web's largest video sharing site. The blog has also learned that a YouTube deal would preclude a deal with Hulu, the joint video venture from News Corp. and NBC Universal. As part of the arrangement, Disney and YouTube would share revenue, with Disney controlling the ad inventory, although Google could get some inventory to sell, too. YouTube would also refer traffic back to Disney's properties. …

Federated Media, which on Monday announced that it would aggregate executive feeds onto a Twitter page currently sponsored by Microsoft, is bringing a similar idea to the NCAA College Basketball tournament. Called MarchTweetness, the new site lets you tweet with others who are watching the same tournament game. The site will be sponsored by telecom giant AT&T. As VentureBeat's Eric Eldon notes, this is the second vertical site launched by Twitter and FM this week, and others are sure to follow. Eldon says this strategy, currently the only up-and-running revenue model for Twitter, is somewhat problematic for third-party developers, who …

BusinessWeek's Spencer E. Ante reports that Facebook has been trying to secure as much as $100 million in debt financing over the past few weeks, at a time when banks and other lenders are becoming more cautious about extending credit to companies. Facebook is aiming to use the credit lines to help it finance leases for the growing number of computers needs to run its popular Web site. As Ante notes, such leases are a common way to finance equipment purchases in Silicon Valley. The social network has been shopping for credit from a large number of financial institutions, including …

Skype is apparently close to launching an iPhone version of its P2P voice and IM service, says Om Malik. "A tipster -- a very reliable one -- tells me that Skype is almost ready to launch that iPhone version, perhaps as soon as next week," he says, adding that the announcement will likely come at next week's CTIA Wireless event in Las Vegas. Skype already offers a Windows Mobile version of its client. "As I've said before, Skype will have to turn to mobile to keep its growth intact," says Malik. He points out that services like iSkoot have stopped …

The Guardian's Helienne Lindvall is none too impressed by Wired Editor Chris Anderson's "freeconomics" theory, which will be outlined in his forthcoming book on the subject. After seeing Anderson's keynote at SXSW interactive, Lindvall says, "I was really hoping he would have the panacea he proclaims, but just as The Long Tail (his prior book) has its flaws, so does this one -- at least when it comes to music." In fact, Anderson uses the music business in China as an example of how piracy creates celebrity, which in turn creates cash. "Chinese pop stars make money not off music …