Twitter-based ad networks: a different perspective
An ongoing conversation about the viability and credibility of Twitter-based ad network Magpie led Brandon J. Mendolson to come up with a nifty idea: republish our perspectives on the issue (I don’t have a problem with it as I see “sponsored tweets” as being a close cousin to sponsored blog posts, as I get into here, and Brandon is firmly against) on our respective blogs. Therefore, I present to you Brandon’s take on the issue in full, and as you’ll see he really has at it! And catch Brandon regularly at his Graduate Student Survival Blog - eb
Sponsor Tweets: Your Unwelcome Twitter Uncle
By: Brandon J. Mendelson
Before media ownership limits were reduced, print newspapers were plentiful and profitable. The loss of competition and cost cutting to please shareholders caused newspapers to grow stagnant and lose readership. As print readership declined, so did advertising dollars.
Blogs allowed individuals to report news, provide commentary, and serve as a community resource. As they grew in readership, advertisers focused their financial resources on blogs over papers. Will those advertising dollars find themselves budgeted for Twitter? No.
Twitter is blowing up as a source for headlines, not content. Blogs that regurgitate news have been replaced. Why bother reading a blog that makes brief, pithy comments before linking out when you can get the same thing on Twitter? Here’s the catch: Twitter has only changed the way some blogs operate, not replaced all of them the way newspapers are being replaced.
The attraction to Twitter is that it operates like a conversation. Blogs, even personal ones, do not update in real time the way Twitter does. They shouldn’t. It’s social media gospel that too many blog posts or tweets turn readers off. Do you think throwing in an extra tweet, an advertisement, would hurt or help your chances of building influence on Twitter? Trust the gospel on this one.
On your blog, a reader still has to leave a comment, that you may or may not approve. You also have to deal with Trolls and spammers, a rarity on Twitter. Conventional wisdom also dictates successful blogs focus on specific topics, as opposed to a specific person … unless that person is a known commodity. Popular Twitter users are people, not narrowly focused media outlets.
Since I have been blogging, dating back to 1999, I have found including advertisements was and remains acceptable as long as you explain upfront that you will be advertising. There was a shock when the post 2003 blogs started to advertise; however, blogs lend themselves to advertising thanks to their flexibility in design and content. Twitter does not have either as a luxury.
Twitter is not designed to be a media outlet. In fact, Twitter wasn’t designed for anything beyond answering the question, “What are you doing?” All of its other uses were user generated.
Twitter is designed to operate as a conversation. Inserting an advertisement into the middle of a conversation is disruptive. Think about how you would react if your friend, in mid-sentence, made an unrelated commercial announcement before resuming what they were saying? I realize some blogs do this, but unsuccessfully and to the reader’s chagrin. On a blog, you have options to avoid torturing your readers with certain methods of advertising. In Twitter, you have your conversation and only two ways to advertise: Disrupt the conversation or advertise on the background.
The expectations of Twitter followers are different than blog readers. This was not always the case, but with blog / newspaper hybrids such as The Huffington Post, we have come to expect blogs to be monetized in some way. Twitter, as a conversation, is not designed for monetization. This may change, but the format and conversational style today does not lend itself to monetization the way a blog does.
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