Got ads? Twitter VIPs are getting a noise-free platform

Lauren is a reporter for The Next Web, based in San Francisco. She covers the key players that make the tech ecosystem what it is right now. (show all) Lauren is a reporter for The Next Web, based in San Francisco. She covers the key players that make the tech ecosystem what it is right now. She also has a folder full of dog GIFs and uses them liberally on Twitter at @lhockenson.

Do you see ads on Twitter? If you don’t, you may be a part of an elite group of users whom the company has decided to protect from the mild annoyances of commercial noise.

According to a report from Re/code, Twitter’s efforts to help this select group of “VIP” users stay engaged long-term on the platform. Apparently there are many factors that could get you into the low-ad or no-ad group, including fame, volume of tweets and potential reach of tweets.

Given the general public’s annoyance over ads on any service, it seems like a valuable tactic superficially. But, the manipulation of ads on a given users feed has a lot of far reaching consequences — even for the advertiser who is putting money into Twitter on the premise that valuable eyeballs will see that content.