Talk of how to monetize Twitter, both from its founders perspective and a third-party point of view, is dominating conversation on the web these days. Tweetbucks, a startup founded by entrepreneur Chris Sukornyk, is hoping to make money for users of Twitter, Facebook and FriendFeed through leveraging affiliate fees and CPCs from ads.
Here’s how it works. Tweetbucks has a database with thousands of online merchants that offer referral fees (or money you get from merchants when your advertisements of a product result in a purchase ), including Amazon, BestBuy, Barnes & Noble and Shoes.com. All you need to do is find a product on a retail site, enter it on Tweetbuck’s site, and the startup will automatically shorten (via Bit.ly) and convert it to an affiliate enabled link, referencing the site’s data base of online merchants that pay out affiliate fees. You can then add the link to in a Tweet, Facebook status update or FriendFeed message.
Every time people click your link and your recommendation results in a purchase, the online merchant pays a commission to you. For example, referral fees for Amazon’s Associates program hover around 6%, BestBuy pays out 3-4%, and CompUSA pays around 6%. Tweetbucks will take 30% of the money you earn through each referral leaving you with 70%. So if you send out a link via a Tweet to a Kindle being sold on Amazon for $359.00 and someone purchases the Kindle from the link, you will receive $15.12 and Tweetbucks will take $6.46. On the other hand, if your affiliate fee comes from a book on Barnes & Noble (which also pays out 6%) that totals $16.76, you will receive $0.70 cents and Tweetbucks will get $0.30 cents.
Tweetbucks also lets you earn money off of any non-retail site, by allowing you to enable a “custom ad-frame,” on a site you Tweet the link to. Tweetbucks displays an ad at the top of your destination page and you earn a variable rate (CPC) on every click. You can also customize this ad frame to include a hyperlinked logo of your choice. The compensation from this doesn’t seem to have as much potential as the affiliate fees; Sukornyk says returns are around $1 to $2 per thousand clicks.
Tweetbucks give you a complimentary $5 in your account to start with and pays you via PayPal each month. You can also earn a 10% commission on all revenue earned by people you refer to Tweetbucks for 6 months after their approval date. It’s a little shady to be sending out links to friends and followers with out them knowing they you will be making a cut off of their sale. Sukornyk encourages Tweetbucks users to add the hashtag #tweetbucks at the end of any link so that people who click on your link will know whats in it for you.
This has a few similarities to Microsoft’s controversial CashBack program, which gives users monetary incentives to click through and buy products from the ads they’re shown. But Tweetbucks gives users the power to make money from others (and forbids the user to click and buy from the links themselves).
There seems to be the whole double edged sword issue with Tweetbucks. The more affiliate links you send out, the more people will probably purchase from that link and the more money you will make. But the more links you send out, whether it be via Twitter, Facebook or FriendFeed, the more you hover on that line of being a pseudo-spammer of links to retail sites. And you could come across as opportunistic if you send out a ton of links that make you money every day, regardless of whether you disclose or not. I guess it was inevitable that services would eventually leverage the power of links with Twitter, FriendFeed and Facebook for monetary purposes. For some reason, it just doesn’t sit right with me.
of all the lame twitter startups out there this isnt one of them. has good potential but i am sure there will be loads of copycats now if this isnt a copycat that just happen to get feature first.
I think this might be the killer twitter app of the year. http://ftags.com. It’s kinda like a swiss army knife for organizing tweets. Particularly elegant at solving the groups/memes noise problem among other things. Pay attention to this one.
that’s the worst name ever. your eye wants to remove the “t”. please change the name.
I wouldn’t call the idea nor the startup lame. On the contrary, the idea can someday benefit regular Tweetterers the way the blog benefits a publisher. And it doesn’t matter whether or not the idea is a copycat. What matter is how you can process the idea to produce something better than those products already in the market. Google was a copycat. But it can do a much better job than any other search engines do, so far.
Yay..Now we will have lots of spammers on Twitter claiming how they made their millions..
Would you call all google ad sense publishers as spammers ?
lol
Get a Brain Nisha… or dont post
Not all ad sense publishers, but certainly millions of them.
And yes, google make millions on spammers setting up crap or fake sites filled with keyword spam
Haggu…you must be one of those guys who make millions right??
Just kidding..
true. when will we see a “google” of wolfram alpha..
http://bit.ly/17gH4F
Someday I will be able to get my oil changed on twitter…….and maybe my car washed.
I’m confused, can’t you shorten your own affiliate links if you really wanted to? why give up a cut?
seconded.
Probably because it’s a one-stop-shop. So you don’t have to get an affiliate account with Amazon, Yahoo, MSN, B&N, etc…
One angle I see is that it’s probably a lot more “clean” for partners. Meaning, being forced to go through the Twitter interface will probably cut down on “black hat” opportunities (discounting their ad-frame part).
the worst idea ever… why add a layer when you can do it alone…
I am not sharing my money with these people.
If the product I am promoting is worth sharing, it’s certainly worth setting up an account for it directly.
Yes you can. This service seems to be geared towards someone with little or no real working knowledge of Internet commerce. Or even worse it will only attract users who have lost their affiliate program for using shady practices, meaning even more Twitter spam.
This product is for noobs who know nothing about affiliate marketing. I already do this without the 30/70 split my commission.
Same thoughts. If I shorten an affiliate url, tweet it, and someone clicks, aren’t they ultimately taken to the original url?
noone gives a shit about twitter startups with their 3 lines of code.
noone gives a shit about twitter startups with their 3 lines of code.
noone gives a shit about anonymous posts with their 2 duplicate lines of crap
You’re not a spammer if you do reviews. Just keep it honest.
but you can’t really do a review in two lines. So it will look like spam anyhow..
just another Magpie app….
Exactly. Why would I want to spam friends and followers with affiliate links just to make a few dollars a year.
I feel the same sentiment about this. When tweets are motivated by thousands of users who are trying to make a dollar or two, Twitter will become a machine of too much useless information and not enough real value. The current mechanism that can help defend against this is that we do choose who we follow on Twitter. If someone tweets mostly for selling products, we can choose to tune that person out. However, if Twitter search becomes a popular mechanism for people to look for product reviews, paid tweets can become more of a problem.
as if Twitter had any *real value* now =)
Wow this article is amazing!
Yet another way to annoy people and give them a reason to stop following you.
This is horrible and continues to show that Twitter will eventually be a wasteland of spam. Aside from the horrible intent of spamming your friends and strangers, due to the 140 character limitation and shortened URLs, you can’t even explain the product you are shilling. You just post some spam, and hope someone clicks through and buys. Awful idea.
agreed
Why not? there is no original information in social networks, it’s just chit chat, misinformation, self-obsessed bloggers, brainless celebrities and cats. what’s left? lets make a s**t load of money off of it
I can see earnings on RevTwt (formally twtAd) being a lot higher than this site. Twitter links convert and there’s definitely a market for it.
revtwt works on click through rate, conversion rates do no apply. I’ve tried tweeting with affiliate codes; twitter sure does generate traffic but conversion rates are >0.03% which is appalling.
click through rates on tweets are pretty good which is why revtwt works.
From their site:
“Should I disclose I’m using Tweet-Bucks?
Absolutely. You should tell your followers that you are using Tweetbucks to automate the process of monetizing your links. If you provide quality content then your readers shouldn’t mind if you pay your bills.”
Um. Your readers shouldn’t mind? How do they know? And when exactly should you tell them you’re using this? With every tweet?
Fail.
Great point re: disclosure. It’s nearly impossible to provide disclosure + content in Twitter’s character count.
And I kinda remember Scoble using an affiliate link once for something a while back and everyone and their grandmother went apeshit.
It’s a surefire way to drive your friends and followers up the wall.
What is wrong with this?
If I want to share a useful link with you and make a few cents in the bargain, what is the issue?
BTW, Tweetbucks is not the first with this. There are several other similar services.
Check out adf.ly http://twitdom.com/adfly/
Because you know all the get rich quick enthusiasts are going to view this as a “business opportunity” and take it too far. Also, product or service recommendations are often made in the context of other business goals and strategies, adding an affiliate link detracts from that. I think a lot of these comments are on the right track though, most of the people that would abuse such an app probably already are with their own AM networks. Unless your primary goal is affiliate marketing, using this service runs the risk of alienating your followers and watering down your message, use it at your own risk.
To me its just a banner ad style for monetizing shorten urls services. Nothing new here. Any link that you navigate from Facebook page already has Facebook mast-head, its like putting some ad on that top bar.
I have already seen shorten urls which pre-roll Ad and after 7 seconds later take you to the actual page. And it sucks.
Tweetbucks is just giving easy opportunity to users to spam their network in its current form but if they can highlight that sender is actually endorsing the product mentioned in the link THEN its a different game.
I am sure if Oprah buys Zune HD and sends out Tweetbucks link, good percentage of her 1 million followers will click and buy it without thinking anything.
If someone tells me to check something out, does that mean I’m going to buy it? No.
If someone tells me to check out something sweet and I buy it do i mind giving them the finders fee? Of course not. It costs me nothing.
If people spam me with shit ads will I drop them? Obviously.
I was just thinking what implications its going to have on ReTweets?
Tweetbucks should provide easy way to change link ownership during ReTweet
If not then user will manually change links and if that happens viral-ity is limited to just ONE-HOPE, not enough money for users and just more spams.
I think you just found an even more epic fail. Nefarious people sending short links to “cool products” could turn into a huge moneymaking scheme for the sender AND the company.
I don’t quite understand what is the big deal with people making a little bit of money if the links they post convert, it is not like there is a difference in price for the buyer? The buyer can do their own research and decide whether this is the best price and if so then buy, shouldn’t really matter whether the person who posted about the product makes manoey.
If people start posting too many links and spamming it is up to their folowers to unfollow them.
That’s a big if – I’ve seen numerous cases over the years when going to a site via an affiliate link (I’m talking to you Expedia UK) gets you a worse price than without. How can the user compare that other that clearing cookies or going to the site homepage in another browser?
I wouldn’t call the idea nor the startup lame. On the contrary, the idea can someday benefit regular Tweetterers the way the blog benefits a publisher. And it doesn’t matter whether or not the idea is a copycat.
Wow what a great news for us i have created the account there and i will try to see how much i can earn thankz alot for the info
ugh. i’m glad the guys behind twitter have said adverts aren’t their thing. SO tired of every medium being reduced to yet another carnival barker’s platform.
“Talk of how to monetize Twitter, both from its founders perspective and a third-party point of view, is dominating conversation on the web these days.” Umm, no.
We appreciate for all the great feedback. Positive or negative we’d love to hear about it @tweet_bucks (http://twitter.com/tweet_bucks)
Every medium that exists based around free content (TV, blogs, radio) must strike a balance between monetization and their production values. As several comments point out, there is a chance some Tweetbucks users might become overly enthusiastic and include more product links in their tweet-stream than they might have otherwise. While this is a possibility I would like to mention that unlike email, who you follow on Twitter is entirely opt-in. If you do not like the content being produced by someone you follow then it is at your discretion to un-follow them. TweetBucks users will be un-followed pretty quickly if they are just blasting out tweets with no value-add.
The goal of a TweetBucks user should be to focus on producing great content – let us worry about the monetization. Personally, I love to follow people that generate great content about a niche. They spend hours digging up relevant information that I simply don’t have time for and I don’t have any problem whatsoever if they happen to make some money for doing this. Likewise I have no problems with blogs or content sites monetizing their free content.
We recommend that all TweetBucks users disclose their use of the tool. A couple options we suggest are including a “#$” in your tweets or simply including “I use TweetBucks” in your profile. We will also shortly provide some images you can integrate into your background image. We look forward to participating in the discussion about how best to ‘disclose’ on mediums like Twitter.
Thanks,
Chris
CEO, Chango Inc (TweetBucks)
I think the message most of us are missing is following:
TweetBucks: First, we examine the link you are shortening against our database of 1000’s of merchants. If it points to an e-commerce site like Amazon or Best Buy, we automatically insert an affiliate code. With the affiliate code inserted, every time someone follows your link and makes a purchase, you’re paid a commission.
If this is true and your “affiliate codes” are highly relevant to the page context then I see a value.
twitter is just awesome
This is such a bad idea. This is making it okay to use these URL shorteners for spam. I have had enough with following links here on TechCrunch, let alone now having to worry where the links go to on Twitter.
Example:
“Great Post! Thx, http://bit.ly/spam”
and then the like goes to http://whytechn...mi.blogspot.com
That is very annoying.
Wow, TC coverage of tweetbucks. Nice.
If you are interested in the exclusive launch interview with the founders of tweetbucks, I have it over here at http://www.protwit.com
Another clever way to play on peoples’ desire to monetize their work whilst pursuing their primary business objective. What’s funny is that most people stand to make at most $100 a month, while these bogus affiliate networks make a fortune of the masses of idiots.
If you’re thinking about using a service like this keep these 3 things in mind:
- Always stay focused on your primary objective and goal
- If you want to peddle affiliate links then become an affiliate marketer
- If it’s worth it to make some chump change using these links then your message isn’t worth reading.
Cheers
Sounds like users will have to get annoying, like those Amway people, to make some money. Whoever do that too much will just stop being followed.
Not sure it will work.
and so the death of twitter is coming.
Once spamming becomes out of control, people will no longer use twitter.
They’ll just have make captcha’s etc. Every thriving social network goes through a phase where it needs to control spam.
I don’t get it. Why would one do this when you can just go grab the affiliate link yourself directly from the merchant and tweet it, thus avoiding the fee taken by Tweetbucks?
Not too saavy of a company. I use IE8, and their website gives me a message that they don’t support IE6 and that I must upgrade.
Hi Sam, we seem unable to reproduce your problem with IE8. Are you running anything which could be affecting your User-Agent settings?
Figured something like this will come sooner than later. Problem is although this will help users make money and gain more twitter users, it ultimately is bad for the service. there are tons of spam accounts already and this will ensure there are more strictly just posting these affiliate links out all day long. It also could hurt the credibility of those who use the service for good.
Bad idea.
I don’t forward to the day people start spamming twitter with their links trying to make a few dimes.
I am sure twitter themselves will ban this.
The first person who sends me to a spam link goes into the block list, and i am sure many other people will do the same.
I’ll be glad if I never hear of this idea again. Twitter is fun. I love Gmail, it is what it is. But this will turn Twitter into something else. Rgds Vince
Twitter is like a breath of fresh air on the Social Media scene. I have been on it for just a few weeks now and I have met several interesting people. It is a platform to network with people you would like to meet in real life.
KZ
http://ePostMailer.com
Interesting idea. I wondering if Twitter would ever consider starting their own service like that…What Twitter should do is just have sponsored results. Same idea as Google except it’s all real time stuff.
You say it’s a bit shady…?!
It reeks of MLM, not my cup of tea.
Sell to your tweets friends and family, no thanks…
Quietly the same with this onwe http://adf.ly/. Scam?
Ahem…anyone can do this now…and make 100% of their affiliate sales. I don’t see the point in doing this through Tweetbucks. Simply open your own Affiliate accounts and send out links…and eventually be hated and unfollowed. This will become a very big problem for Twitter. Spam 2.0, here we come.
It was funny when I found this, had the same idea months ago but I came to the conclusion that a one man operation would be very difficult to manage all the affiliate programs, and thought that Twitter itself with it’s size would have been much better suited to actually make the money through sales sent through their service, like the $1 million in sales that Dell made through Twitter promotions.
Crazy how this space works.
This is a really awesome and useful service for anyone who finds them self shortening a lot of URLs and needs to have quality statistics and reports. The fact that there is a 5.00 sign on bonus and that there is a wide range of merchant affiliates integrated into the service is convenient also.
I am looking forward to how this service develops in the future and I believe that it is off to a great start. I think that once an API for this service is released that we will really see it’s true potential for developers, marketers, merchants, and end-users.
So far I have really been enjoying this service.
Read more:
TechCrunch: http://bit.ly/828jk
reve news: http://bit.ly/19MO6W
Twitterrati: http://bit.ly/iA52R
DavidCrow.ca: http://bit.ly/6SW7Z
marketwire: http://bit.ly/Czzaf
twi5.com: http://bit.ly/53vrv
EarthTimes: http://bit.ly/fmzG2
KillerStartups: http://bit.ly/SgnDR
Finally someone who gets it!
The spam filters are coming and filtering out #tweetbucks will end the business model. see example at http://www.yout...h?v=9PXIL8rQD7I
I am not sure I really have a problem with it, if it goes with your Twitter account. Mine is @couponcodelady so need I say more. I try to link most of my links to my blog. If it is going to be allowed , there needs to be a standard hash for all affiliate links. Sponsors are using #spon or #ad, but if no one knows what it means, are you really disclosing anything?