Twitter’s experiment with not showing ads to power users appears to be over

As we reported back in January, Twitter seemed to be protecting its elite users from the visual noise associated with ads on the platform. Today, as our own Martin Bryant put it, ‘the party’s over.’

I've just started seeing Twitter ads again too. The party's over. https://t.co/ftADmAHll2

— Martin Bryant (@MartinSFP) February 9, 2016

According to sources a report from Re/code, in September, Twitter started playing around with the idea of increasing engagement with a select group of “VIP” users by not showing ads on the platform. Normal uses would continue to see these ads.

In fairness, Twitter didn’t announce an official roll-out or strategy, and word from the company was a variation on its “just testing things” attitude it gets when little features change here and there.

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When asked for comment, a Twitter representative told TNW:

We’re constantly looking at constraints and adjustments to optimize which ads are shown and how often.

But, that didn’t stop us from trying to figure out what an “elite” or “VIP” user looked like, and why they weren’t seeing ads. From the best I can tell, follower account and reach weren’t as important as the blue verification checkmark.

A colleague who has a larger follower count, however, didn’t notice being a part of the no-ads group, so your guess is as good as ours.

As far as if it actually happened or was all just a figment of your imagination, I guess you’ll have to be the judge of that.

I don't get Twitter ads in-stream, but I get them if I look at a response to a tweet? pic.twitter.com/a7APGEY0IS

— Jay Yarow ?? (@jyarow) February 8, 2016