Twitter Testing Advertising In Twitter Streams

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1. nobosh.com
   

   April 14th, 2008 at 11:16 pm

   Any idea why they don’t wait till later in the evening to perform site updates?

2. Chuck Freedman
   

   April 14th, 2008 at 11:28 pm

   While I can’t see paying a cent to use the Twitter service, I wouldn’t mind seeing ads every 5 tweets or so. The twitter user’s photo could easily be replaced with that of a sponsor logo. Another thing they could do is monetize a user’s mention of a movie, song or product by linking into an associate-supported program like Amazon’s and collect referral revenue.

   I’m sure they’ll figure out a discreet way to monetize and keep the service very enjoyable for many of us.

3. Amit Chowdhry
   

   April 14th, 2008 at 11:39 pm

   I wonder if Twitter can make money by premium membership. Premium member messages would be placed at the top of the web timeline and RSS feeds. Just a thought.

4. Robert Scoble
   

   April 14th, 2008 at 11:40 pm

   Ahh, so that’s why Twitter was slow earlier…

   I’d buy some advertising. Can I hit only one account? I’d love to spam @jasoncalacanis

5. John Lynn
   

   April 14th, 2008 at 11:45 pm

   Let’s just hope that they are recognizable. Too bad for Twitter, I think that ads on Twitter will probably monetize similar to social networks. In fact, it may be worse. Myself and probably many others have become very adept at ignoring or passing by lame comments. This skipping skill will become even more valuable if ads are included in the stream.

6. Paul Short
   

   April 14th, 2008 at 11:48 pm

   I’m growing more and more attached to my twitter account. It’s the only social networking tool and site I’ve ever really put any time and effort into. I also realize that in order for a company to keep a popular service like that alive, they have to generate some sort of revenue.

   A topical ad tastefully placed here and there in the timeline wouldn’t bother me in the least.

7. Wouter Neyndorff
   

   April 14th, 2008 at 11:49 pm

   It was going to happen sooner or later.. These guys were looking for a business model and now they are going back2basic by just selling the advertisement space. You can’t expect a company like twitter to live of VC funds only. Eventually a moneymaker has to be in place for them to survive and show that you can actually make money out of the business..

8. dailytwitter
   

   April 14th, 2008 at 11:51 pm

   why sell advertising - ok obvious reasons, for revenue. but why not have a channel for classifieds - dailytwitter will… people post classifieds. twitter display classifieds.

9. trench
   

   April 14th, 2008 at 11:54 pm

   I don’t mind maybe text ads on the site - but in the feeds?

   No.

   The feeds are advertisements already for the most part. I’m sure Twitter has added to your overall hits… as well as anybody else that has an account and a site to market. Advertising through sociality is wonderful, as long as it’s not overt and spamtastic… but we don’t need paid chunks slipping into all of our feeds. I’ll be leaving just as fast as I entered if this happens.

10. Rodney Rumford
    

    April 14th, 2008 at 11:57 pm

    a premium version might work if it supported me sending attachment payloads: video, photos, etc.

    ads on twitter are a sketchy idea at best.

11. Henry Work
    

    April 14th, 2008 at 11:57 pm

    Twitter uptime for March 2008. Compare that with March 2007.

12. joris
    

    April 15th, 2008 at 12:00 am

    I wouldn’t mind limited advertising. But I suppose that content targeting would be extremely difficult given the non-focussed content on any given Twitter page.

13. winser
    

    April 15th, 2008 at 12:06 am

    vote free. keep it free. So I can do some ad la.LOL. I need it. China Travel and Hotel.

14. Brajeshwar
    

    April 15th, 2008 at 12:07 am

    Looking at the usage percentage of Twitterific (A Mac Twitter Client), I honestly feel that people are ready to accept advertisements for the good service of Twitter. I’m pretty sure, many people will convert to a Pro (paid) account if Twitter introduces one that have no ads.

    The irony is for clients like Twitterific which relies on Ads for the free version. What will happen to those Paid-Twitterific-Free-Twitter users?

15. Brian
    

    April 15th, 2008 at 12:09 am

    They had to do it sooner or later, but I agree that it may be premature.

    My question — how do they target the ads? Geo-targeting is sexiest when devices are involved, but it’s not a location aware app. And they don’t know that much about users barring what meta data they provide in the “About” fields. So it makes one wonder to what extent they can use that information to permit targeted campaigns.

16. flypig
    

    April 15th, 2008 at 12:11 am

    Screenshot’s here:

    http://flickr.com/photos/flypi.....0/sizes/o/

    The URL in the yellow box:

    http://s3.amazonaws.com/twitte.....witter.jpg

17. Ryan Spahn
    

    April 15th, 2008 at 12:14 am

    Twitter I thought you were so stupid and now Im addicted!

    We see companies like Comcast using Twitter to monitor brand and provide better service. Maybe Twitter should lock up this data and sell access to such to big companies.

18. Christine
    

    April 15th, 2008 at 12:22 am

    for the record, i’m innocent and did not break twitter tonight. turns out the URL to my background image for Twitter was featured randomly in a yellow box at the top of the timeline and got mistaken for an ad.

    this is what was on that yellow box:

    http://s3.amazonaws.com/twitte.....witter.jpg

    here’s a screenshot taken by @flypig of that yellow box with the URL. i’m not sure if it’s clickable but it opens up to this image, which is the background of my twitter page.

    very strange. had i known it was going to be picked at random or included randomly as part of a glitch…i would have re-designed a better background page! LOL.

19. Duncan Riley
    

    April 15th, 2008 at 12:28 am

    Christine
    the second source didn’t see your image, but it is all a bit bizarre. Either way, ads are coming, just a matter of when.

20. Noisy News
    

    April 15th, 2008 at 12:34 am

    oh..its not good..Twitter how can you do this to us…

21. David
    

    April 15th, 2008 at 12:42 am

    I’d pay $10-15 a year for no ads and better uptime. Don’t think companies like Comcast, Dell or Southwest are going to pay to access the user base. In most cases the people in charge of the purse strings don’t get it. I don’t understand why people think stuff should be free just because its on the Internet. You pay for water right? Everytime you flush your toilet it costs you a quarter. If water isn’t free what should be?

22. trench
    

    April 15th, 2008 at 1:02 am

    “If water isn’t free what should be?”

    The antithesis of brilliance.

23. Sunil
    

    April 15th, 2008 at 1:13 am

    Its not too bad to see ads on Twitter.

24. Wouter
    

    April 15th, 2008 at 1:40 am

    I think the combination of advertising with a paid premium account (without ads and with some extra perks) would make the most sense for Twitter.

25. Andrew Terry
    

    April 15th, 2008 at 1:53 am

    It had to happen sooner or later; it must cost them boatloads of cash each month to keep the service running.

    I’d support seeing ads in the Twitter-stream if there was a paid/pro version, in the same vein as Pownce.

26. Stewart Mercer
    

    April 15th, 2008 at 2:04 am

    If some of the revenue is used to get the service running like clockwork, fine by me! The guys @twitter need to earn a crust too ….

27. Xman
    

    April 15th, 2008 at 2:28 am

    Ads are an abomination anywhere. I never want ads forced on me. If they appear in the stream then I hope that clients will provided ways of filtering them out (I am sure that they will, especially if the ads are intrusive and badly targetted)

28. aglick35
    

    April 15th, 2008 at 2:28 am

    Drat - Well, ok. Knew the drugs were going to be free for awhile. I’m too hooked to go cold turkey. Need the twitter fix.
    Ads / no ads / electroshock / whatever
    How can 140 characters be so addictive????

29. Pavlo Zahozhenko
    

    April 15th, 2008 at 2:31 am

    Advertising doesn’t work well with social networks, and Twitter won’t be an exception. I think, they are able to develop a better business model. For the start, let they simply add premium accounts with absolutely no benefits apart from the fact that it is ‘premium’. A large part of Twitter userbase love the service so much, it will buy premium subscription just for the sake of supporting twitter; others will pay simply for the ‘elite’ status of premium subscriber. Certainly, Twitter won’t get lot’s of revenue out of such a ‘business model’, but it’ll give it some time and money to develop something more viable…

30. Mark Evans
    

    April 15th, 2008 at 4:00 am

    Imagine that, an online service trying to generate revenue as opposed to just offering its service for free. Wonders never cease.

    Seriously, this is something Twitter has to do. For people how don’t like to see ads, how many of them would be willing to pay $20/year for an ad-free version? That’s the really interesting question.

31. Harold
    

    April 15th, 2008 at 4:20 am

    Someone please explain to me why I should care or why anyone would care what the f*ck I am doing every 5 minutes? I don’t get Twitter.

32. chrisco
    

    April 15th, 2008 at 4:28 am

    As much as I hate ads and subscription fees, Twitter should go to a freemium model. Just no blinking ads and keep the subscription fees low.

    I think some freemium services, such as 37signals’, are too expensive and I won’t use. Maybe Jason has the revenue and profit optimized how he wants, plus a 4-day work week, but they charge too much for a frugal founder like me. Then again I’m pretty extreme: sitting here with my toes sticking out of holes in my socks, eating a bowl of musli and yogurt, drinking a glass of water, typing on a $379 laptop.

33. Jonathan Lister
    

    April 15th, 2008 at 4:52 am

    I can’t imagine why anyone would begrudge a small amount of non-invasive advertising in their TwitterStream, in order to keep the service free. Note the two caveats.

34. Raskin
    

    April 15th, 2008 at 5:55 am

    Ads on Twitter!? How dare they try to implement a revenue model! The users will revolt! A twitt-olution is in the works! Everyone, to your keypads! We’ll create a stink so big, they’ll smell it all the way out in Shallow Alto!

    Twitt-olution I said!

35. nisti2
    

    April 15th, 2008 at 6:31 am

    ADS on Twitter jejeje wow!

36. Khang Toh
    

    April 15th, 2008 at 6:33 am

    There are just ads everywhere, so I’m not sure what’s the deal with having ads on Twitter. Honestly, I think 90% of Twitter users wouldn’t mind seeing some ads here and there, but they have to be great ads, not stupid ads like “Get an Ipod free!”

37. Juanu
    

    April 15th, 2008 at 6:37 am

    I don´t speak english
    then.. i don´t understand
    my twitter: juanuuu xD

38. Vincent Nicolai
    

    April 15th, 2008 at 7:09 am

    added this post to http://www.tectrnd.com

    cheers

39. joey
    

    April 15th, 2008 at 7:46 am

    My inclination is to support it, afterall it is a free service. But I suppose this means those of us who are using the free twitteriffic app will soon see multiple ads from twitteriffic as well as from twitter. That sounds crappy.

40. MariaGarcia
    

    April 15th, 2008 at 7:59 am

    I love Twitter! It has become my addiction. I must say that paying for it is not exactly ideal for me, but I probably would. But, if in order for it to keep on being free all I have to do is put up with advertising so that it can stay up and running I gladly will (unless of course the ad content works in detriment of whatever factor makes the site a success).

41. Deadpool?
    

    April 15th, 2008 at 8:02 am

    I agree with John Lynn…ads for Twitter will not monetize well. They should give the premium membership a shot…from what Dave Winer says, it seems to be working pretty well for Pownce (although I’m shocked that company has survived for as long as it has…must be the Kevin Rose factor). I view their business as structurally identical to IM. It is very valuable, but only in the context of what a larger company will be able to do with it.

42. Frederic
    

    April 15th, 2008 at 8:13 am

    I just got an email from Twitter confirming that there are _no_ ads on the site. Time to call back the dogs…

43. dave
    

    April 15th, 2008 at 8:21 am

    they could use a tweetscan like service to make the ads relevant, and in that case i could care less (e.g. i’d love to see ads for local concerts, that would never bother me, or local coupons and entertainment discounts)

    hey, they’ve got to make money, so who cares?

44. Ontario Emperor
    

    April 15th, 2008 at 8:33 am

    The ads have to be in the stream, rather than on the Twitter page, to make the service work. For example, I normally access Twitter via a mobile browser, and m.twitter.com usually doesn’t show the text that the others see.

    The important thing is to introduce the ads based upon the number of tweets, rather than upon the number of elapsed calendar hours/days. I’m a fairly frequently Twitter user, but if I weren’t, I would be hopping mad if I encountered an ad every time I peeked at the service. One ad per five tweets sounds too frequent to me (I’d prefer 1 per 20), but I could live with it.

45. Peter Kafka
    

    April 15th, 2008 at 8:39 am

    Nope, not true. http://www.alleyinsider.com/20.....reams_nope

46. Nate Westheimer
    

    April 15th, 2008 at 8:46 am

    Awesome journalism Duncan. You made up a story and SAI exposed you.

    http://www.alleyinsider.com/20.....reams_nope

47. usrbingeek
    

    April 15th, 2008 at 9:33 am

    Twitter should be allowed to monetize the service by inserting ads. However, it should be done in a non-obtrusive way. For one thing I wouldn’t want to get ads over sms!

    I would be willing to pay for an ad free version.

48. Webepags
    

    April 15th, 2008 at 9:43 am

    Twitter! Twitter! Twitter! Twitter! Twitter! Twitter! Twitter! Twitter! Twitter! Twitter! Twitter! Twitter! Twitter! Twitter! Twitter! Twitter! Twitter! Twitter! Twitter! Twitter! Twitter! Twitter! Twitter! Twitter! Twitter! Twitter! Twitter! Twitter! Twitter! Twitter! Twitter! Twitter! Twitter! Twitter! Twitter! Twitter! Twitter! Twitter! Twitter! Twitter! Twitter! Twitter! Twitter! Twitter! Twitter! Twitter! Twitter! Twitter! Twitter! Twitter! Twitter! Twitter! Twitter! Twitter! Twitter! Twitter! Twitter! Twitter! Twitter! Twitter! Twitter! Twitter! Twitter! Twitter!

    STOP IT ALREADY!!!!

49. Kristie Wells
    

    April 15th, 2008 at 10:26 am

    I would not be adverse to ads on Twitter as long as it didn’t overshadow the content which is why we are all there. Ads on Facebook don’t bother me as they are secondary to everything else on the pages.

    Side note to Henry/Duncan: Think it worthy to mention you cannot judge uptime from March 2007 to March 2008 without taking into consideration they have had a year to refine the app, which would absolutely have an effect on how stable it is, and how it scales.

    Disclosure: I work for Joyent -and- I use Twitter every single day as they are a large part of what I do (Community Relations). I absolutely want to see them succeed, and am happy they are doing well. Really. Their app wasn’t happy on our platform. Ok. They moved on. Ok. What makes that worthy of mention every single time you mention Twitter?

    I would be happy to put you in contact with the folks at MLB.com, Oprah, myLATimes.com and others - all pushing more data through Joyent’s infrastructure than Twitter did, and all very happy Joyent clients.

50. no one in particular
    

    April 15th, 2008 at 10:46 am

    @#8
    yeah, i’d love to see a classified section on twitter, especially an escort sub-section where my favorite pimp could provide live updates on his hookers availabilities.

51. Jay (Twitter @qthrul)
    

    April 15th, 2008 at 11:07 am

    @duncanriley

    You could have just added a “?” to the end of the title like TV news talking heads do but then SAI wouldn’t get another 4 hits today

    I do agree with your comment that it is just a matter of when not if. I’ve talked to a number of distributed IT shops over the past few weeks and Twitter chatter is alive and well. Those I’ve talked to are doing non-public testing and the biggest question they have is what the per year fee will be when the site goes commercial.

    -Jay

52. Allison
    

    April 15th, 2008 at 11:41 am

    I would hate for people to have to pay to for Twitter because so many people would then be “left out of the conversation,” therefore I support the ugly need for occasional advertising. The ads must not obscure the conversation, though. Perhaps a paypal-type donation service could be set up, a la Wikipedia.

53. Colby Palmer
    

    April 15th, 2008 at 12:50 pm

    Just saw this happening on Twitter:

    @ev: http://twitter.com/ev/statuses/789726122
    @TechCrunch: http://twitter.com/TechCrunch/statuses/789776222
    @ev: http://twitter.com/ev/statuses/789780789

54. Annoyed
    

    April 15th, 2008 at 2:27 pm

    Way to publish inaccurate information AGAIN techcrunch. Hope you enjoy all those backlinks.

    It’s like April fools every day on this freak’n site.

55. xxdesmus
    

    April 15th, 2008 at 7:03 pm

    I’d pay $15-20/year for ad-free Twitter (and maybe some extra fancy features).

56. David Chartier
    

    April 15th, 2008 at 7:15 pm

    Could you perhaps update this post? Ev and Biz have both refuted that ads are coming or being tested in any way, and much of the web has corrected their coverage of this.

57. Nigel Rowe
    

    April 15th, 2008 at 9:18 pm

    Of course this is all very helpful to the Twitter crew should they be considering such a move. Arms length focus groups like this thread are always a useful metric.

58. Jason Rodriguez
    

    April 17th, 2008 at 11:08 pm

    I certainly wouldn’t mind relevant ads, as long as they are in moderation.

59. Malte Landwehr
    

    April 18th, 2008 at 7:42 am

    Their server and sms costs must be immense, so advertisement is a logical step. Everyone needs to make a living so I guess its ok for Twitter to place come ads.

60. Amanda Vega
    

    April 23rd, 2008 at 10:52 am

    Aside from ads running in Twitter, which yes should be an option unless users want to pay for them to be gone (we are so tired of people wanting internet applications for free…) we have monetized Twitter campaigns for clients through creating “brand zealots” within Twitter (that are also tied into direct mail and email campaigns) to give them specific and very time sensitive offers at brick and mortar locations. So, there’s ways to monetize and use Twitter - you just have to be creative.

    Amanda Vega
    http://www.amandavega.com
    amanda@amandavega.com