Twitter Takes A Shot At Revenue Generation

Well, Twitter has finally dipped it's toes in the advertising pool but they have done so ever so carefully. Twitter is taking things very slowly in an attempt to not affect the user experience, the ad must first be tweeted by the advertiser and then it will show up in search results as a featured tweet. However only tweets (ads) that are popular with users, in that they are retweeted or replied to, will be kept in the queue. “The one thing we are most excited about is these are simply tweets, not ads,” Chris Buzzo a Starbucks spokesman said. “There is one big difference between a promoted tweet and a regular tweet. promoted tweets must meet a higher bar — they must resonate with users. This means that if users don’t do the things with promoted tweets that would normally do with a regular tweet such as reply to it, favorite it, or retweet it and so on, the promoted tweet will disappear.”

I find it intriguing that they are only displaying the promoted tweets in the search results, only because I have recently discussed with a colleague my use of Twitter to discover relevant recent information via search, over even Google in some situations... 

Read More at Wired.

Offer-Based Ads In Your Mobile Apps?

Here is something to be on the lookout for! GIGaom is speculating a wave of in app offers as the result of the acquisition of Tapjoy by Offerpal Media.

Offerpal specializes in the kind of pitches that have quickly become very popular on social networking sites such as Facebook as a way to generate revenue and enable users to enhance the gaming experience. A casual gamer who accepts a trial offer from Netflix, for instance, could be rewarded with extra levels, while a fan of a mafia game could get a weapons upgrade by taking a survey.


Tapjoy delivers a related service for mobile developers looking to monetize their apps. The company offers free content or in-game upgrades to users who agree to download additional applications.

 I suppose it was inevitable, I just hoped it wouldn't happen so soon.

Apple Smack Down Ads Continue...

With a plethora of smartphone choices in the marketplace Apple has taken to the air waves again in a show of oneupmanship with the holiday season in full swing. This time however, Apple has not been so bold as to name it's rival, perhaps that's because there are multiple targets? It'll be interesting to see how the competition reacts and who will fire the next volley? Will Google stick to it's "do no evil" motto or will Microsoft see this as an opportunity to shoot back for the I'm a Mac... I'm a PC ads in the wake of the recent iPhone security problems?

Apple iPhone Ad - Did You See My Email? from Arik Hesseldahl on Vimeo.

Seinfeld And Gates No More

Microsoft has ended the bizarre Jerry and Bill ads that had most of us asking what the...? “We wanted to be sure that when we do come out with our (new) major message, ‘Life Without Walls,’ more people would be paying attention than they would otherwise,” contends Mich Mathews, a senior vice-president in Microsoft's central marketing group. “My goodness, did we do that.” TV Guide has more.

Another Seinfeld And Gates Commercial - The Simple Life?

Here is another Jerry and Bill commercial that at least attempts to give us a hint at what they are up to, I'm a little less confused by this one. It seems both Seinfeld and Gates are attempting to connect with the real world, as Jerry says to Bill "You and I are a little out of it. You’re living in some kinda moon house hovering over Seattle like the mother ship. I’ve got so many cars I get stuck in my own traffic. We need to connect with real people."

Ads on your cell phone

Is nothing sacred? Looks like Google, Yahoo!, Microsoft, and AOL are lining up to serve us ads on our cell phones. With a number of start up purchases and some home grown applications the big guys are seeing big bucks in our small screens. Business 2.0 has the story here.