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Twitter’s Biggest Problem: Tweets are Ads

33 points by profitbaron 16y ago

martianpenguin 16y ago
The author needs to learn how to use the unfollow button.
wmf 16y ago
So why doesn't Twitter just embrace this and charge to send tweets (to any significant number of followers)?
- adamesque 16y ago
  …or from "verified" accounts. If you go this route, I guess you'd probably want to let @replies and DMs remain free (or give them a much higher cap).
  - phlux 16y ago
    Actually -- then it would make sense for twitter to become a PR extension. They should bolt on a ton or PR services - like managed delivery, metrics, event tie ins etc... They should work exclusives with celebrities to promote their albums, concerts, movies and events. There should be special rewards for followers to engage via retweets such as free tickets, lower pricing etc. There are so many media engagement models that I am just amazed that they aren't doing any of this. When I interviewed there recently, the only takeaway I had from the experience was organized chaos.
atacrawl 16y ago
It's kind of funny that such a succinct explanation of Twitter's core problem could lead to a tl;dr situation.
- joejohnson 16y ago
  This guys makes the same point over and over.
technomancy 16y ago
> Stop what you’re doing right now (i.e. quit reading this blog post), go to your Twitter account, and scan the first screen. Be really dispassionate. How many of the Tweets there could be called ads in the sense I’m using it? I get 5 that could be considered ads out of 30 tweets; only two of which are actually about things for sale. It sounds like this guy just isn't very good at picking folks to follow. That said, it's a good thing to be aware of.
- phlux 16y ago
  Ads are blurbs that are asking for your attention. If they are asking you to go somewhere (link), think about something (statement) or buy something, they are still ads. Given that twitter is a one-to-many medium, unless your friends (real ones that you hang out with) are directly communicating with you over twitter, its pretty much a given that they are ads. Assume that you follow P-Diddy. You read his tweets. You have never, nor shall never actually hang out with this person in real life. Every time you read anything he produces, you're consuming his ad. His comments which you receive via twitter are veiled PR/marketing - even if he is providing tangential commentary on events unrelated to himself such as the earthquake in Japan... you are consuming his content. He is a media icon. Anything he says is designed to drive attention to his brand. While you may not be purchasing anything he produces with your money -- you are spending your attention on anything you read. This is the nature of programming (content/media programming, not computer programming) -- You are rewarding media content producers with your attention, eventually that will translate to an expenditure of your money -- which is really a proxy for attention/thought anyway... EDIT: Given that your handle is 'Technomancy' I would have thought you to understand this much -- unless you dont know the meaning of your own handle...
  - technomancy 16y ago
    > Ads are blurbs that are asking for your attention. If they are asking you to go somewhere (link), think about something (statement) or buy something, they are still ads. Sure, that's why I said only 2 of the 5 ads were things for sale; the others were to things like blog posts. I do realize that I'm in the minority; I only follow about a little over a hundred users. I personally know maybe 70% of them. I suppose his point stands he is talking about the bigger picture and Twitter in general; I'm just pointing out that if you take some care to curate your followers list it doesn't have to be that way for you.
imrehg 16y ago
I just got working my Twitter game weekend project: Can you guess who tweeted this? http://who.saidth.at http://who.saidth.at One thing I haven't realized before I started is how difficult it is to find "quality" tweets. I use celebrities' messages, people who I can reasonably assume that some people would care to know what they have said. But at least half of them just post links and retweets all the time.... Fortunately there are some really good ones as well, so anyways.... :)
brownleej 16y ago
While reading this, I kept thinking that search results are ads too, at least as the author defines them. Google still managed to create a valuable proposition for advertisers, so why couldn't Twitter?

33 points by profitbaron 16y ago

martianpenguin 16y ago

The author needs to learn how to use the unfollow button.

wmf 16y ago

So why doesn't Twitter just embrace this and charge to send tweets (to any significant number of followers)?

adamesque 16y ago
…or from "verified" accounts. If you go this route, I guess you'd probably want to let @replies and DMs remain free (or give them a much higher cap).
- phlux 16y ago
  Actually -- then it would make sense for twitter to become a PR extension. They should bolt on a ton or PR services - like managed delivery, metrics, event tie ins etc... They should work exclusives with celebrities to promote their albums, concerts, movies and events. There should be special rewards for followers to engage via retweets such as free tickets, lower pricing etc. There are so many media engagement models that I am just amazed that they aren't doing any of this. When I interviewed there recently, the only takeaway I had from the experience was organized chaos.

atacrawl 16y ago

It's kind of funny that such a succinct explanation of Twitter's core problem could lead to a tl;dr situation.

joejohnson 16y ago
This guys makes the same point over and over.

technomancy 16y ago

> Stop what you’re doing right now (i.e. quit reading this blog post), go to your Twitter account, and scan the first screen. Be really dispassionate. How many of the Tweets there could be called ads in the sense I’m using it? I get 5 that could be considered ads out of 30 tweets; only two of which are actually about things for sale. It sounds like this guy just isn't very good at picking folks to follow. That said, it's a good thing to be aware of.

phlux 16y ago
Ads are blurbs that are asking for your attention. If they are asking you to go somewhere (link), think about something (statement) or buy something, they are still ads. Given that twitter is a one-to-many medium, unless your friends (real ones that you hang out with) are directly communicating with you over twitter, its pretty much a given that they are ads. Assume that you follow P-Diddy. You read his tweets. You have never, nor shall never actually hang out with this person in real life. Every time you read anything he produces, you're consuming his ad. His comments which you receive via twitter are veiled PR/marketing - even if he is providing tangential commentary on events unrelated to himself such as the earthquake in Japan... you are consuming his content. He is a media icon. Anything he says is designed to drive attention to his brand. While you may not be purchasing anything he produces with your money -- you are spending your attention on anything you read. This is the nature of programming (content/media programming, not computer programming) -- You are rewarding media content producers with your attention, eventually that will translate to an expenditure of your money -- which is really a proxy for attention/thought anyway... EDIT: Given that your handle is 'Technomancy' I would have thought you to understand this much -- unless you dont know the meaning of your own handle...
- technomancy 16y ago
  > Ads are blurbs that are asking for your attention. If they are asking you to go somewhere (link), think about something (statement) or buy something, they are still ads. Sure, that's why I said only 2 of the 5 ads were things for sale; the others were to things like blog posts. I do realize that I'm in the minority; I only follow about a little over a hundred users. I personally know maybe 70% of them. I suppose his point stands he is talking about the bigger picture and Twitter in general; I'm just pointing out that if you take some care to curate your followers list it doesn't have to be that way for you.

imrehg 16y ago

I just got working my Twitter game weekend project: Can you guess who tweeted this? http://who.saidth.at http://who.saidth.at One thing I haven't realized before I started is how difficult it is to find "quality" tweets. I use celebrities' messages, people who I can reasonably assume that some people would care to know what they have said. But at least half of them just post links and retweets all the time.... Fortunately there are some really good ones as well, so anyways.... :)

brownleej 16y ago

While reading this, I kept thinking that search results are ads too, at least as the author defines them. Google still managed to create a valuable proposition for advertisers, so why couldn't Twitter?