Twitter could actually make money (with ads, gosh)
17 replies, posted
[quote]Twitter unveils advertising plans
Promoted Tweets will initially just appear on search results pages
Twitter has said it will allow advertising on its site for the first time.
The social networking site said advertisers would be able to buy "Promoted Tweets" that will appear on Twitter's search results pages.
It has been reluctant to allow advertising in the past.
However, co-founder Biz Stone said they would not be traditional adverts. They must be Tweets that "resonate with users" and be part of conversations.
Twitter has already signed up a raft of big name organisations such as Sony Pictures, coffee chain Starbucks and US retailer Best Buy.
ANALYSIS
By Tim Weber, Business editor, BBC News website
Twitter is yet another digital business in search of a business model.
Tweeting may still be a minority sport in most countries, but it is growing fast, especially internationally. Currently, the world's Twitter users tweet about 50 million times a day 600 times a second.
Twitter's management hopes to apply the Google advertising model to its own micro-blogging service. A paid Tweet here, a paid Tweet there, and the deluge of the Twitterfall should deliver some healthy income.
Companies using the service, however, will be looking closely at the return on investment that the service will generate. Should they pay per tweet read, per click-through, or per sale-after-click?
Commercial tweets to build brands and create buzz are probably the most promising application of Twitter ads. For ad copy writers, it will present a new challenge: how to hook customers with 140 characters or less.
It describes the Promoted Tweets as "ordinary Tweets that businesses and organisations want to highlight to a wider group of users".
Initially, Promoted Tweets would only appear in Twitter search results, the company said, and only one Tweet would show up on each search results page.
It is the first toe in the advertising water for the social networking site, which has yet to make a profit and has only just begun to do deals to raise revenue from the high profile service.
It is an approach that the company described as a "stubborn insistence on a slow and thoughtful approach to monetization".
It follows Twitter's announcement over the weekend that it will buy Atebits, the developer behind iPhone application "Tweetie", which is one of the main user access points to Twitter.
The acquisition means that Twitter will for the first time be able to control directly the service they deliver to iPhone users, instead of relying on third party application developers to do this for them.
....[/quote]
From the BBC: [url]http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/8617031.stm[/url]
The primary question we've got in our minds, of course, is how the hell did Twitter survive without any form of profit for the past +year?
Before anyone bitches: This happens anyway, they may as well make profit off it.
Jobs?
[editline]06:37PM[/editline]
Wait... Other sites?
Of course twitter has advertising plans.
They'll be rich.
Damn :sigh:
I wish Twitter would go away
follow me on twitter!
I really enjoy Twitter. It:
A) Stops idiots updating Facebook status every five minutes
B) Allows me to ask famous people, game designers and inspirations questions
C) Share my thoughts and reflect on them later.
Who uses Twitter?
They probably sell marketing statistics or something already.
About damn time, if you ask me... I still don't give a rat's ass about Twitter, though.
[QUOTE=HubmaN V2;21328289]The primary question we've got in our minds, of course, is how the hell did Twitter survive without any form of profit for the past +year?[/QUOTE]
Twitter is a great example of what the [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Network_effect]Network Effect[/url] can accomplish. They survived all this time without a dime thanks to it...
Twitter is good because it gives me a steady flow of information from famous people.
I hate Twitter.
twitter is only useful to companies and famous people.
[QUOTE=aydin690;21343775]twitter is only useful to companies and famous people.[/QUOTE]
Twitter is useful as a search engine for information regarding current events (talking really current, like less than a day and shit hasn't had time to propagate through search engines yet).
It's also a great networking tool if you're in the right industry and following the right people. I find tons of great design resources through twitter because I'm not following a bunch of people that just post about what kind of sandwich they are making.
[QUOTE=KmartSqrl;21343908]Twitter is useful as a search engine for information regarding current events (talking really current, like less than a day and shit hasn't had time to propagate through search engines yet).
It's also a great networking tool if you're in the right industry and following the right people. I find tons of great design resources through twitter because I'm not following a bunch of people that just post about what kind of sandwich they are making.[/QUOTE]
Average twitter user doesn't even have 40+ followers.
[QUOTE=KmartSqrl;21343908]Twitter is useful as a search engine for information regarding current events (talking really current, like less than a day and shit hasn't had time to propagate through search engines yet).
It's also a great networking tool if you're in the right industry and following the right people. I find tons of great design resources through twitter because I'm not following a bunch of people that just post about what kind of sandwich they are making.[/QUOTE]
This.
Twitter saves a lot of the bullshit that comes with other social networks. No embarrassing photos to be tagged in, no relationship status to fawn over, no retarded reputation to maintain. Just sharing thoughts. And frmo what I read, this advertising isn't going to be particularly intrusive. So I'll give them the benefit of the doubt.
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