Twitter To Start Selling Followers 95
Ellie K writes "While not quite as bad as it sounds, Twitter will soon be identifying followers with certain interests based on the content of their Twitter usage, and then providing this info to advertisers. Twitter is already selling sponsored Tweets for $100K or more. These reader comments captured the disquieting feeling I have: 'Twitter selling followers? Will that be the same as Google selling top position in SERP?' and 'I wonder when Facebook will start to sell friends.' Advertisers will be allowed to purchase placement in lists of 'who to follow' recommendations targeted to users with particular interests on Twitter."
Re:Sorry, Slashdot doesn't understand APIs. (Score:3, Interesting)
Companies are already doing the kind of marketing you're talking about. I had the twitter account for the Sci-Fi B movie 'Sharktopus' place me in it's 'Midnight Snack' list after I tweeted about how terrible it looked. (aside - saying that last sentence out loud makes the whole thing sound far more stupid than the process actually is)
As a result, they show up in the 'recent lists you've been put in' in the new twitter interface. Pretty sharp on their part. That being said, I think that doing business with twitter lets you get additional info and, most importantly, more screen space on your target audience's screens than following them. If Best Buy's logo appears on my screen every time I log in, that's a service they couldn't get otherwise.
For that matter, if they didn't make it obtrusive, I wouldn't mind if they put in cheaper, market-targeted promoted tweet into my feed from time to time if it makes the service profitable so they don't have to shut it down when/if venture runs out. I'm sure as hell not likely to pay per month for the service, it's nifty but not life-changing for me.
Re:Sorry, Slashdot doesn't understand APIs. (Score:5, Interesting)
Since I am part of the glorious ad-blocker using internet master race I'm fine with my usage patterns being research and used to serve up more relevant ads--as long as I never have to see them. The day it becomes impossible to strip the ads out of some service is the day I stop using it. People like us should be happy about the new business model, it provides free services without ads subsidized by people too incompetent, lazy, or principled to block ads.
At the end of the day..... (Score:2, Interesting)