Twitter to allow advertisers to buy Tweets
For the first time, Twitter will allow advertisers to buy ‘promoted tweets’ through its search result pages.
The social networking site has previously avoided using advertising, but Biz Stone, co-founder of Twitter, has revealed in a blog, that non-traditional advertising will be permitted, beginning today.
In his Blog, Stone explained: “Stubborn insistence on a slow and thoughtful approach to monetization—one which puts users first, amplifies existing value, and generates profit has frustrated some Twitter watchers.”
Brands such as Best Buy, Bravo, Red Bull, Sony Pictures, Starbucks, and Virgin America have already signed up to use the platform, which will see regular looking tweets sent out highlighting messages from the advertising company.
Stone said that the tweets would be at the top of search results pages, ensuring that they would be ‘interesting’ to the user and making them more targeted and that only one such tweet will be displayed on the search result page.
“We’ll attempt to measure whether the Tweets resonate with users and stop showing Promoted Tweets that don’t resonate. Promoted Tweets will be clearly labeled as “promoted” when an advertiser is paying, but in every other respect they will first exist as regular Tweets and will be organically sent to the timelines of those who follow a brand.”
He added that Promoted Tweets would retain the functionality of regular Tweets such as having the ability to reply, Retweet, and be added as a favourite.
Promoted Tweets, Stone said, ‘must resonate with users’ and be interacted with by users, or they will disappear.
More information on the service will be released later this week, Twitter has said.