Sound Off: Do Twitter Ads Harm or Heighten User Experience?

By TwitterFools Editorial Staff, December 14th, 2009 in Opinion | Comments

Twitter advertising models have come and gone over the past year. Some have failed and still others are gaining traction. As more and more twitterers are exploring this avenue for monetizing their twitter accounts, it seems only right that we provide you with a place to sound off. Do you find that Twitter ads harm or heighten your user experience?

Have you noticed the churn in Twitter advertising outlets during 2009? Ad services like Million Dollar Follow, The Branch Network, and Tweet Traffic Ads appear to have gone by the wayside. During the same time BeTweeted, Izea’s Sponsored Tweets, Twivert, Twittad, and Assetize are available and appear to be growing their network of both advertisers – those who want to reach your twitter followers; and publishers – those tweeps who are tweeting out ads to make a few bucks.

Our goal here is not to promote one service over another or denounce the idea as a whole. When we wrote Sponsored Tweets Do Not Portend a Twitter Apocalypse earlier this year we thought it would be interesting to see is how people walk that fine line between legitimately mentioning a product or service they like and abusing the trust their followers have placed in them. So, we continue to watch.

Meanwhile, after reading Gigaom’s recent post Twitter: “Really Cool” Ads and Commercial Accounts Coming Soon which cites Twitter’s COO Dick Costolo promising Twitter’s advertising will be “fascinating,” “non-traditional” and “really cool,” it seems advertising on Twitter will soon be reaching whole new level!

Sound Off:

Do Twitter ads harm or heighten user experience?

Have you found great products and services through Twitter ads?

Have you even noticed any ads in your twitter stream? Have they felt disruptive or just fine?

Do you use one of the existing Twitter advertising networks? If so, have you lost or gained followers? Have you made good money?

Is there an acceptable etiquette for tweeting an ad? What is it?

Bloggers [like us] and internet marketers have been promoting their wares on Twitter for several years now, so are sponsored tweets really any different?

In many ways Twitter is a broadcast medium like radio and television and advertising is their life blood. So, Twitter advertising appears to be a natural progression. Do you think it spells doom for the social network or mark a vital step in it becoming a long-term, viable business venture?

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Tags: dick costolo, follower stream, Social network, Sponsored Tweets, twitter advertising

Comments

HeatherO

It remains to be seen how frequent they will be, which would make a difference.
In some respects I'd rather see a transparent ad than cheezy spam disguised as value:)
If they are 'cool & entertaining', that's even better!

twitterfools

Thanks @HeatherO -agreed! Can't wait to see what "cool and entertaining" look like.

Socially Able

I have only noticed a few ads and they didn't upset me. For the most part they are pretty easy to identify as ads, either by the words "sponsored ad" or by the tweet source. To me, I prefer the ads flagged in this way. I haven't unfollowed someone for placing a sponsored tweet - but I unfollow spammers all the time!

twitterfools

Haven't seen many myself yet, but expect them to increase dramatically in 2010. Thanks for your comment!