Google AdWords
I assume that by now you have a Twitter account.
And I assume that you’re following me – http://twitter.com/thedavecollins
I also assume that you’ve noticed the ads that are being displayed. Maybe you haven’t. They’re small, discrete, easy to miss, and free.
Apparently the ‘advertisers’ being displayed there aren’t paying for their ad spots yet, but the countdown has probably begun for Twitter to begin making money. Gasp – how dare they?
Let’s not dwell on the fact that these adless ads look unnervingly similar to AdWords ads. The question is whether they’re going to work.
Assuming you have a Facebook account, how often do you click on their ads? My guess is never, or almost never.
Why? Because when you go to Facebook, you’re only there for one thing. To engage with your friends; to see what they’re up to, look at their new pictures and maybe to have a quick poo fight with them. But you’re in a different mode to when you surf the web. And yes I hate that word too, but please bear with me.
I’m not yet sure whether we’re in a different mode when we use Twitter, but we appear to be. When people view your Twitter profile and click on the link to your website, they usually do so to get a feel for who you are. And I’m guessing that a lot of people do a lot of clicking in Twitter, so perhaps there is a mode of Twitter surfing – Twurfing?
So will the new Twads (you get the idea) work? My guess is no. They’re a little too discrete, and I expect to see them change, move and grow over the coming months. Twitter won’t introduce paid ads until they know they work, but when they do, we may actually see today’s big thing generate revenue. How quaint.
I’m probably the outlier, but I do click on Facebook ads – maybe even more often than Google Ads. If you interact with Facebook enough, it knows enough about your interests that their keyword / demographic / location targeting can be spookily accurate… when they have enough inventory of relevant ads, that is. Rating ads up/down also seems to help.
But since I rarely use the Twitter website, I don’t see myself clicking on many “Twads”. Not yet anyway.
The twads you mention are not the only ones.
There are also twads emanating from Twitter accounts – tweets that advertise their wares, i.e. tweets designed to promote products, instead of sharing info if actual interest.
I don’t particularly like twads – even though I know how useful they are…