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Twitter Follows Facebook’s Ad Lead

Posted: April 15, 2014, 4:35 p.m.
by Stefanie Dunlap.

Twitter first introduced advertisements to its users in 2010, and until now, I have had no complaints. I personally have not been bothered by these less than frequent ads, and rarely do I see them on my Twitter feed.

Although Twitter is an internationally known social media site, it does not bring in the profits that you would think. Because of its profits falling short, Twitter has decided to adopt a few successful advertising ideas from Facebook.

According to the Wall Street Journal and several other news sites, Twitter will implement 15 new types of ads. Considering I rarely noticed the previous ads, adding 15 new ad types will most likely be more obvious and may alter the Twitter user’s experience.

One type of ad, adopted from Facebook, will show up in the user’s feed as an expandable tweet and will include a “download” option. Upon clicking on “download,” the Twitter user will be directed to the Apple App store. As soon as the app begins loading, the user will automatically be redirected to their Twitter feed. Facebook has had much success with this type of advertising, bringing in 245 million app downloads in the past year.

Twitter also plans to go through third-party data marketers to see what its users are doing when they are not on Twitter. Have you ever seen an ad on the right side of your Facebook news feed for a product that you bought online yesterday? Well, that’s because Facebook can see what you’re searching, even when you’re not logged into your Facebook account.

Twitter has decided to adopt this advertising idea to directly target each individual user and to show them ads for products, apps, etc., to have a greater likelihood of getting a download/purchase.

Many avid Twitter users are angered by these planned advertising tactics that their favorite social media site has chosen to use. Some current users are asking the question,“Why do I want Twitter if it is turning more and more into Facebook?”

Although many social media users see these ads as annoying and disruptive of their usual Twitter experience, if Twitter does not find other ways to make money, the company could cease to exist. Shockingly, to date, Twitter has yet to earn a profit. So whether or not these specific advertisement ideas will drive away users or be successful for Twitter, we will find out as these ads are implemented later this year.

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