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Follow Patti on TwitterUntil I read that the ad would have an identifier, my first response was... puke. I figured it was the end of trust. In fact, I replied saying just that.
But then I got to thinking.
If I put my PR hat on and think about what this could mean for clients who have a message and are looking for a new channel to deliver it, then Twitter advertising opens up a whole range of new possibilities. And let's be honest -- 3rd party endorsement from someone influential or trusted isn't a bad new channel. Connects me back to Malcolm Gladwell's The Tipping Point -- and his idea of Connectors, Mavens and Salesmen. And writing short would take on a whole new meaning.
The example provided on the ad.ly site is pretty benign: "Check out the behind the scenes drama on the set of the smash hit True Blood," with a link and the identifier that it's an ad. Hell, I might be willing to Tweet that myself -- with the exception of the "smash hit" hyperbole. In fact, I've sent similar tweets about SuperFreakonomics and the TV series Glee and now wonder if I can't collect retroactively for those. So I was kind of warming to the idea of Twitter advertising, not that it would be my first choice, but something I could live with.
Of course, I never think about anything just once. So I got to thinking about the days in print -- magazines particularily -- when there was a real separation between editorial and advertising and every reader recognized that difference. Then someone came up with the idea of the advertorial. Then someone figured writing "This is an advertising feature" in 4 point type was OK too, and it became difficult to figure out what was what.BC Business magazine, the print version at least, has made a fortune on exactly this practice.
I think I can live with advertising on Twitter. I get that you have to find a way to monetize pretty much everything, because "free" really isn't. What I can't live with is the likelihood of opening a link because I trust the source, to find out I've been scammed. I would be heartbroken to find out that SJP doesn't really use that blond hair dye after all.
Guacira Naves
November 25th, 2009 12:20 am ET
Hello, As you probably know, John Chow made the news because he started incorporating ads in his Twitter stream. I personally wouldn't integrate ads in my Twitter updates, largely because I feel that it betrays the trust between myself and my followers. Maybe John Chow's followers may not have been surprised that he'd adopt this practice. In that case, whether or not he runs Twitter ads might not necessarily hurt his number of followers. But what if an ad runs through a Twitter account where followers did not see it coming? In that case, it would be interesting to see the long-term effects on the reputations of both the advertiser and the Twitter account that published the ad. I could see this ad model working for Twitter accounts that already include information about commercial offers, like coupons, discounts, local offers, etc, but not for others that have built their reputation based on the personal tone in their conversations. Last but not least, if anyone is insulted by the ads, they always have a choice: unfollow whoever published them.