Here at Easypurl.com, we just love Twitter. We tweet several times per day about topics we think may be interesting to our followers – stuff like links to interesting articles, hot topics in marketing, industry news and events… or even announcements that we’ve released a new Blog post on Easypurl.com Insider. 🙂
Recently we noticed something new in Twitter called a “Promoted” button. We weren’t sure what this new feature was, so we did some research. Never seen this feature before? If not, here’s a screenshot from Twitter’s dashboard on the right. If it’s too small, you can click on the image to enlarge it. Basically the Promoted tag is a way of attracting attention to the 
tweet, trend or Twitter member.
Interestingly, this Promoted tag is not being placed by Twitter itself, but instead by the organization using Twitter. Essentially it’s a form of advertising. These “Promoted Accounts” are something that Twitter has been experimenting with since last April, and has been offering to high-profile corporations with accounts on the site since October. In a blog/press release sent out in October Twitter stated:
We’re launching Promoted Accounts as part of “Suggestions for You”, which suggests accounts that people don’t currently follow and may find interesting. Promoted Accounts helps introduce an even wider variety of accounts people may enjoy.
Promoted Accounts are suggested based on a user’s public list of whom they follow. When an advertiser promotes an account, Twitter’s algorithm looks at that account’s followers and determines other accounts that those users tend to follow. If a user follows some of those accounts, but not the advertiser’s account, then Twitter may recommend the advertiser’s Promoted Account to that user. For example, a lot of people who follow several gaming-related accounts also follow @xbox. If someone follows gaming-related accounts, but not @xbox, Twitter may recommend @xbox to that person.
We currently display “Suggestions for You” in the side panel on the right side of your logged-in Twitter.com homepage. Starting this week, you may see a Promoted Account as one of these suggestions. When there’s no relevant recommendation, no Promoted Account will show.
Since we will only be testing Promoted Accounts with a handful of companies initially, there’s a chance that you might not see one at first. We look forward to getting interesting Promoted recommendations to you soon. Read on here.
According to the Wall Street Journal, Twitter has some of the world’s biggest companies using a Promoted Account, and charges upwards of $100,000 for each Promoted Tweet! Their COO Dick Costello has reported than and “average [of] 5% of Twitter users who saw a Promoted Tweet interacted with it, a rate that is “an order of magnitude greater” than most online ad campaigns.” (WSJ)
Not every one is crazy about this recent innovation. Some worry that Promoted Accounts will create unwanted spam and cause inaccuracies to true user trends. Others are concerned that only large companies with enough cash to pay for these Promoted Tweets will dominate the space, pushing individuals and small businesses to the side.
These concerns may be a bit overblown. While Twitter is a fantastic place for people to connect and comment about what’s going on in the world around them, we understand that it’s also a business that needs to create revenue in order to grow.
What are your thoughts on Promoted Tweets? Let us know in the comments. Oh, and by the way, if you want to follow us on Twitter here are two accounts you should check out:
Twitter Account managed by Rio Longacre, VP Sales & Marketing @ Easypurl: http://twitter/easypurl_rio
Twitter Account managed by Kate Fowler, Marketing Manager @ Easypurl: http://twitter/easypurl_kate
