Twitter defends introduction of promoted timeline tweets
Twitter, the micro blogging vehicle, is scrabbling to defend its decision to cash in on its growing popularity by populating user feeds with promoted tweets for the first time.
Big names such as Dell, HBO and Red Bull have already signed up to begin producing the world’s shortest advertisements in a move which Twitter claims will be of benefit to both brands and consumers (and Twitter).
Speaking to the technology blog techcrunch Bain said: “We’ve found that 20 to 40 percent of users follow one or more brands on Twitter,” adding that: “The one problem we’ve heard from users is that when there is exclusive content or deals, there’s a chance they might miss them.”
To prevent such misses, and become a serious business, Twitter is working on a “bidded” model whereby brands issuing Promoted Tweets stump up in accordance with the volume of clicks, re-tweets and favourites the ad attracts.
Enthusing over the success of the system Bain states that Twitter is recording double digit click through rates, an eyebrow raising figure given that online display ads typically receive only around a 0.05% rate.
Stressing that unwanted ads can be manually deleted and that unpopular ads will be automatically binned Bain is crossing his fingers for a new breed of ads which are “good, not loud.”