Comments on: What will users do when ads hit their Twitter stream?

By: Kc

Kc — Wed, 20 Jul 2011 19:43:51 +0000

Its a bad idea, I am an avid Twitter user, and I can tell you straight up, im not going to be happy if there are big ass annoying ads in the middle of my stream. Take diigo for instance, I rarely ever go on my account bc of all the ads they put in my way. Instead I just use dig, no ads, and its easier to read. Don’t do it twitter, dont do it

By: Rdx2

Rdx2 — Sat, 16 Jul 2011 23:34:07 +0000

hard work…yeah right.

By: Fresh

Fresh — Sat, 16 Jul 2011 17:55:23 +0000

Just because you don’t want in-stream ads doesnt make you a tech snob…it just means twitter should find a better revenue stream. There’s lots of them…do some user testing…n pick the one your users like… In stream ads would be choice C…in terms of revenue and likeability

By: mike

mike — Sat, 16 Jul 2011 13:35:27 +0000

Everybody talks about facebook and G+.
But really, G+ seems to be implementing ideas which will compete with a swatch of social companies out there.
It’s ability to follow without acceptance will prove a direct competitor to twitter I think.
One which would not need ads to be placed in stream for google to earn.
short story: I think twitter has as much or more to fear in G+ as facebook does.

By: Niall Harbison

Niall Harbison — Sat, 16 Jul 2011 13:34:18 +0000

There is the big debate where many people think that it will annoy them massively and I have to say I agree. I don’t think it will be like Digg or Reddit where people don’t mind them. Twitter is more like instant messaging, phones or text where people just don’t accept advertising. Twitter might not get it right and I’d be surprised if they didn’t test it on a small number of users first before annoying everybody.

By: Allen Weiss

Allen Weiss — Sat, 16 Jul 2011 12:23:30 +0000

Since Twitter is always filled with shameless self-promotion, I don’t see much difference with advertising. Of course, this is why I don’t go to Twitter anymore.

By: gubba

gubba — Sat, 16 Jul 2011 11:48:23 +0000

The people who made this are primarily coders who simply have no idea on monetisation let alone what next to do with it.
I’d say crowd-source ideas and give the winner trending status for a month or something similiar. If people are part of a change they accept it more….use your membership you idiots.
Users probably see more potential in this platform than it’s creators – but this is not unusual.

By: Bob

Bob — Sat, 16 Jul 2011 01:06:29 +0000

The lack of a business plan or strategy is biting Twitter in the butt.

They are borrowing from Google to create el-cheapo volume, self-serve ads and place then where we don’t want them. The value of AdSense is that it places ads where we do want them (or, can easily ignore them).

Twitter has had numerous methods it could employ to make real money: Access to it’s firehose and APIs (rather than crushing it’s developer ecosystem); I offered to pay 3 years ago for faster API hits. Or, development of brand ad solutions that actually communicate WITH customers, rather than shout at them (I’ve seen this tested unofficially without Twitter’s approval, it’s a great ad/crm solution). Best Buy should have been paying (and they would have) for their @Twelpforce access…

The list goes on and on…instead, we get garbage ad-units that will make Google+ appear like Nirvana (not the album cover with the penis on it).

By: AGORACOM - George

AGORACOM - George — Fri, 15 Jul 2011 15:37:15 +0000

Why don’t you pay $5/month to have an ad-free stream? What gives you the right to benefit from the hard work of others without having to pay for it?

Unbelievable.

By: AGORACOM - George

AGORACOM - George — Fri, 15 Jul 2011 15:33:38 +0000

I don’t believe the advertising backlash will be anywhere near what naysayers expect. Twitter is obviously a valuable resource to many people and they will accept reasonable intrusions in return for the continued use.

Personally, I believe much of the noise comes from tech snobs that believe their use of the web should be free. Nothing is, has ever been, or will be free. If you don’t like it, don’t use it … or spend your life building and maintaining a great platform that nobody wants to pay for.

Thankfully, tech snobs are but a fraction of web users and society in general. Thank god for that.

George