In the same way that thousands of Kim Kardashian’s loyal followers will flock to a shoe sale if the starlet simply tweets it, Twitter hopes to approach advertising on the platform in a similar manner. A recent interview with Twitter CEO Dick Costolo on NYMag revealed insight into how Twitter might monetize its service.
Costolo used popular actor, James Franco, in his example. Twitter wants celebrities like Franco to sell their audience to advertisers in a way that is “frictionless” — which seems to be a popular buzzword in social media lately, as it reminds me a bit of Zuckerberg’s Open Graph statement for frictionless discovery experiences through friends on Facebook.
Recognizing that certain users have the power to influence most consumers on the service regardless of whether they tweet or not, if Twitter could monetize by inserting organic advertisements into the tweets of its power users, it might be very powerful. In this way, users can still feel that intimate connection with stars like Franco while still being able to convert for advertisers.
“A new kind of advertising that can go everywhere, frictionlessly, immediately,” says Costolo. “It’s not just a browser ad, it’s not just a desktop ad, it goes to smart phones, it goes to feature phones, it can go to SMS [text messages], it can go to TV.”
We already know that Twitter hopes to integrate its promoted tweets across all available third party clients and platforms, but does this mean that Twitter will also somehow be pushing the advertisement tweets of its power users as well? The main worry here is that Twitter will lose the very essence of what it’s most well-known for: the ability to share and chatter about random content in real-time, without feeling overwhelmed by invasive advertising.
You tell me: What do you love about Twitter now, and are you more or less likely to act on an advertisement if a celebrity or public figure you follow suggests you do so? Sound off in the comments.


















It would probably give more power to these "power users" and would take the game out of small businesses taking a chance on Twitter for their marketing. Besides how does that work? Will these power users allow such case of monetizing their presence at the site?
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LikeAsking a celebrity to tweet about your topic is likely the same as a few years ago, when celebrities were asked to tell people about products on television. The difference between then and now is that the celebs are real on twitter, they don't have a script so you can read their true personality. This makes us come closer to the celebrity in person, this should not be changed by commercial plans.
I do like the idea of bringing a brand as a topic into a conversation to make big guys and friends talk about it. Their opinion about the topic is much more influential to you instead of a fake tweet. Even when your friends don't have a clear opinion, it will still provide authority. Like cocacola does, everybody knows it, but because your friends talking about it, you have the feeling it is the best.
Great topic Cheri!
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LikeI can understand backing a product that a celebrity you like backs. I actually kind of expect it. I'm a sucker just like anyone else that if say, Colin Hanks tweets about a certain album that he enjoys, you're damn right I'm gonna check it out. Doesn't mean I'm gonna buy it, but I check it out at least. Those individuals have established their credibility with their larger twitter followings so I can definitely see how this would benefit individuals in the marketing part of advertising. Not gonna lie, I'm proud of them for figuring out a real way to monetize Twitter.
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LikeNever. I do not click ads, period.
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LikeMatthew Lowery even by mistake? :)
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Likehow does one "insert organic advertisements?"
organic is without foreign influence..... a brand paying to get into a influencer's feed is as foreign as it can get. does the influencer have any say in the matter? are followers aware that it was a promoted tweet?
this just doesn't feel right........
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LikeIt doesn't feel right, of course, because we don't like to imagine that someone could possibly make more money than the average man for spouting off some advertisement. But that's the way things go sometimes.
Dan Ragan
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LikeI sure don't want a constant stream of ads from anyone. I have stopped following tweeps who only spam with their only item for sale. I believe peer-to-peer marketing in facebook style is the best. If you like a product, you tweet it recommending it.
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LikeIf advertisers provide relevant info to the followers they will get followed and remembered without mentioning their brand or products all the time. In fact even better that way.
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