Twitter’s been making some changes recently, including rolling out OAuth, adding search/trend functions, and implementing a new More button for loading tweets. The other major new thing you’re going to see is a small box below your stats on your profile.
Oooo, shiny new stuff
“Ads” that are being seen are primarily for applications and services regarding Twitter. Some examples include Tweetie, Twittervision, and ExecTweets. The ads are very discreet and could probably be glossed over if you weren’t looking for it. If this is the way that Twitter intends to roll out an advertising plan, I’ll be thrilled to see what they come up with.
So what do you think? Is this a good beginning to advertisement? What would you do differently? Sound off in the comments.
UPDATE: We’re not the only ones noticing the latest external ad rollout. See more great discussions here:
Do you have any insight into how these ads are being placed? Are they charging for it? Is it primarily limited to the twittersphere?
Reply · PermalinkFrom what I've read Twitter reached out to Loren Brichter, the developer of Tweetie. He told another news source that he's not paying for the ad but rather Twitter just wanted to give it a test run.
Reply · PermalinkWow, I thought they were just actual definitions of new terms being created because of twitter, thought it was fun and interesting, had no idea what-so-ever at first that it was an ad, I didn't click on any of the links but I probably would have eventually out of curiosity. Those ads sure are Sneaky Sneaky. Thanks for the info
Reply · PermalinkIt did start as definitions but quickly evolved into ads. I hadn't noticed the advertisements til the Microblink crew brought it up
Reply · PermalinkAs mentioned on TechCrunch, "Twitter came to [Loren Brichter, developer of Tweetie], explaining that it wants to promote projects like Tweetie which promote “variety, relevance, and value.”
I think what they're doing is cool, as it does seem to blend in with the overall look-and-feel of the interface, but I imagine that regular display ads will eventually find their way into the site. I'd love to see some sort of targeted ad model that serves up items based on the content of the people/tweets you follow.
Reply · PermalinkHey Mark,
Just like you, I still have no search on my profile :(
I think that you and Mike bring up great points here. The Federated Media/Microsoft/ExecTweets deal brings attention to that space on Twitter.com. If you notice a few things have happened on Twitter.com.
1) They have added a "More" button on the bottom, if you scroll over that you see a tracking capability
2) They have added the ExecTweets in the small boxes that only show up on your profile page
This will allow for some tracking of clicks to quantify user click throughs on Twitter.com, and profile views (the amount of clicks on "more" on each profile).
By tracking the popularity of different users profiles; this will open up the door for 3rd party ad networks to serve small text ads on profile pages. If you notice, while logged in to Twitter.com you see the 3rd party app listed on your profile, but if you go to someone elses profile there is no ad.
As Mike mentions, the ability to target via conversation would be very attractive to advertisers. So would location based, and demographic/category of Twitter user.
Regards,
James
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