
Are Sponsored Tweets A Good Idea?
I read an article in Time Magazine this weekend discussing a company called Izea. Izea started a platform called sponsoredtweets where companies can pay Twitter users to Tweet about their products and services. According to Time:
“Twitter users can sign in, set the price they want companies to pay them for tweeting an ad on their behalf and wait for the offers to come in.”
Izea got it’s start building a platform connecting bloggers with advertisers willing to compensate them for plugs on their blogs.
Every sponsored tweet is appended with a “sponsored” disclosure tag at the end of the tweet.
What Are The Ethical Implications?
With a blog post, I think it is easier to let readers know that the post is sponsored. Readers can draw their own conclusions as a result. However, even when some type of disclosure tag is appended to a Tweet, this tag is easy to miss or gloss over when viewing a stream. I think it is important that people know, without a doubt, that the Tweet they just saw was sponsored.
That being said, I don’t have a problem with it if people want to monetize their Twitter accounts. It is their option to face the backlash of lost followers or angry replies when people realize they are tweeting out sponsored tweets. I could even make the argument that if they believe in the product they are tweeting about, who does it hurt if they get paid to tell their friends about it?
I get tired of all the “experts” in social media telling people the “right way” to act or use a service. Twitter is in its infancy, and while there are basic rules developing, it is far from a mature community. Sure there are basic guidelines and common decencies, but at the end of the day if you don’t like the way someone interacts with you, I’m betting you’ll avoid them. However, just because it turns you off, doesn’t mean someone else won’t like it.
What do you think? Are sponsored tweets a good idea?
Tags: social media,
social media monitoring,
twitter
Continue Reading