You're going to be seeing search ads on Twitter after all.Adding to the whirlwind of announcements leading up to the company's first annual developer conference, several news outlets have posted interviews with Twitter executives to unveil something called "Sponsored Tweets," a search ad program that will put brands' messages into users' Twitter streams. It's formally slated to debut on Tuesday.
Early advertisers in the program include Starbucks, Virgin America, and Bravo, all of which have already been using Twitter's reach to promote their brands. With "Sponsored Tweets" that organically-built promotion is becoming official much as Twitter eventually built its own version of fan-created "replies" and "retweets": First, these ads are going to show up if users search for a keyword that the advertiser has purchased. Eventually, they'll show up in users' Twitter streams both on the company homepage and third-party client applications; no more than one ad will be displayed at a time.
Twitter's business model has been talked about nearly as much as the company itself since its hyped 2007 debut: $160 of venture capital has been pumped into the company, and yet its executives repeatedly refused to rush to make a business plan public. It's a decision that some said was wise and others said was short-sighted.
It's obvious that the company considered many different ways of making money, and finally launching search ads--the basis for Google's phenomenal financial success--may be a concession of sorts. Twitter co-founder Biz Stone said less than a year ago at a conference that "we're not pursuing advertising" because "it's just not quite as interesting to us." And in a media interview, CEO Evan Williams said last year that the company would be launching paid accounts for businesses, geared toward managing marketing and analytics, before 2009's end. That didn't happen.
Twitter was rumored to be launching an ad platform last month at the South by Southwest Interactive Festival, where Williams was keynoting. But Williams' big announcement was @Anywhere, a publisher partner program that appears to stem from the same philosophy as Facebook Connect, and which has yet to make a real launch.
Twitter's appeal to advertisers comes at a time when some of the third-party developers who've been building products with the service for the past few years say they feel jilted: Twitter has commissioned a BlackBerry app and acquired iPhone app Tweetie, leading some third-party companies to complain that its once-open platform is becoming rigid and preferential.
The company's Chirp developer conference, which kicks off Wednesday, will undoubtedly have to address this invariable shift from a coder-friendly but unprofitable product into a legitimate communication business.