jeffreydemers.com

Despite its extreme popularity and estimated site value of a jaw-dropping figure of one billion dollars, Twitter has never really attempted to advertise through its site since its launch -- until now. Twitter apparently hopes to grow its bottom line with a new approach to advertising. The use of promoted tweets will mark Twitter's first attempt at traditional advertising. Promoted tweets are essentially tweets that will have priority within the site. Large corporations such as Starbucks (SBUX), Sony Pictures, Best Buy (BBY), and Red Bull will use these special tweets in an attempt to expand their reach to the public. Users can expect to see sponsored tweets in a manner similar to Google top search-results that would appear highlighted. One tweak to Twitter's method is that the promoted tweets would need to prove some relevance to the user, such that if a user did not re-tweet it or reply to it, the promoted tweet would vanish. The relevance model does provide users with some peace of mind that the site will hopefully not be overrun with irrelevant advertising. However, there has been some criticism of Twitter's move towards profit-mindedness. Some believe that adding advertising to the site could irritate many users, and that many visit Twitter for social interaction that is not in the name of consumerism. On the other hand, one cannot blame Twitter for trying to capitalize off its immense popularity, as they do have costs to maintain the site.