In an update about the state of the Twitter platform on their blog today, Twitter has slipped in a section devoted to the demise of paid tweet services. These include the likes of Ad.ly, Magpie, Sponsored Tweets, and others. Many Twitter users are probably rejoicing at this announcement as paid tweets have been a point of contention for quite some time. Other users, including myself, are anticipating the end of an income stream. Who is most concerned with this announcement? The companies that have built themselves on this concept of paid tweets. What will they do to survive?
As our primary concern is the long-term health and value of the network, we have and will continue to forgo near-term revenue opportunities in the service of carefully metering the impact of Promoted Tweets on the user experience. It is critical that the core experience of real-time introductions and information is protected for the user and with an eye toward long-term success for all advertisers, users and the Twitter ecosystem. For this reason, aside from Promoted Tweets, we will not allow any third party to inject paid tweets into a timeline on any service that leverages the Twitter API. We are updating our Terms of Service to articulate clearly what we mean by this statement, and we encourage you to read the updated API Terms of Service to be released shortly.
Why are we prohibiting these kinds of ads? First, third party ad networks are not necessarily looking to preserve the unique user experience Twitter has created. They may optimize for either market share or short-term revenue at the expense of the long-term health of the Twitter platform. For example, a third party ad network may seek to maximize ad impressions and click through rates even if it leads to a net decrease in Twitter use due to user dissatisfaction.
Secondly, the basis for building a lasting advertising network that benefits users should be innovation, not near-term monetization. Twitter is uniquely dependent on and responsible for the long-term health and value of the platform. Accordingly, a necessary focus of Promoted Tweets is to explore ways to create value for our users. Third party ad networks may be optimized for near-term monetization at the expense of innovating or creating the best user experience. We believe it is our responsibility to encourage creative product development and to curb practices that compromise innovation.
To summarize, Twitter believes that the current crop of paid tweet services are short-sighted. They are not innovative and don’t really offer value to Twitter users. It’s easy to see why they may think so as most of these services are working off of the most obvious monetization strategy, charging advertisers to rent a user’s Twitter followers. Twitter also points out that these services are not necessarily concerned with the success of Twitter itself. They are simply focused on making a quick buck off of the popular microblogging service.
To be clear, Twitter is not simply placing a ban on any third-party making money from it, but are specifically concerned with the paid tweets model. They are not targeting applications or services that simply place ads around Twitter content. It will be interesting to see which services will be able to shift gears and innovate their way out of this. While it seems like all is lost, there is still room for success. For example, MyLikes already allows you to share sponsored likes via an embed code that you can place on any website.
Were you making money from paid tweets? How does this announcement effect you?
Editor’s Note: We consulted our staff writer/IP lawyer Latoicha Givens for a more in depth analysis of the situation and her conclusion was as follows:
“Basically Twitter can change any term or condition of the API rules/terms of service agreement as they see fit.
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When the developer becomes a Twitter API developer/user and they acknowledge they have read the Terms of Service Agreement, they are subject to the agreement.
The short and skinny. Twitter is going to roll out their Promoted Tweets Ad program very soon and they do not want to compete with third party ads. They need to gain some control over the advertising because they have to start making money. I am sure they want all the advertising to go through their program so they can become profitable.”
If you want to check out Twitter API Terms of Service Agreement check out the following link: http://dev.twitter.com/pages/api_terms