Slashdot Mirror
Twitter To Block Third-Party Paid Tweets
tekgoblin writes "Today Twitter announced on its blog an upcoming change to its Terms of Service. The change will not allow anyone to promote paid tweets through the Twitter API. Twitter had announced previously that it will be releasing a 'Promoted Tweets' platform for advertisers that will be non-intrusive and will always be relevant to the Twitter timeline. This action taken by Twitter could be a hard hit for small publishers that relied on the paid tweets that will be blocked shortly. Depending on how expensive the Twitter Promoted Tweets will be, this will show us whether or not Promoted Tweets will be good for the little guy."
... to profit from their self-destruction and not share it with others. The only reason why one might consider this a strange move is that Twitter is the epitome of superficial image cultivation, so it seems natural for its users to see it as an advertising channel.
Of course Twitter isn't going to allow advertisers to use their API for free. They will muzzle any attempts to do so in the name of preventing spam, then turn around and charge them for the privilege.
A company wants to make money! I'm starting an online petition!
it's under construction
This action taken by Twitter could be a hard hit for small publishers that relied on the paid tweets
If you "rely" on "paid tweets," go fuck yourself and find an actual business model. Seriously.
Thanks to the War on Drugs, it's easier to buy meth than it is to buy cold medicine!
I don't know why, either, but that's because I don't really understand it. I even skimmed the parts of the Twitter post, and still don't get it because it uses too much new age business gobbledygook terminology - e.g.,
Could somebody describe the situation in terms that me, a simple software engineer, understands? What constitutes a paid tweet, and how does it function -- are they usually automated, based on subscriber count, etc.? What the fuck is the twitter timeline? I'm assuming by ecosystem, they mean their servers and network connections, but someone correct me if I got my hippie==>legitimate terminology translation wrong.
in 2000/2001 wise man once say "web company make no money is web company that go bye bye"
So what is a "paid Tweet"?
If Barack Obama tweets about politics, and he is paid to be the President of the USA, is that a "paid tweet"?
Some twitter viewing applications slide ads into people's twitter streams. Now that Twitter is introducing an official paid advertising service that slides ads into people's twitter streams, they want control over that revenue stream.
All of the incomprehensible corporate speak is smoke-and-mirrors. Sadly, it will be smoke and mirrors that lots of people will fall for. I've shown junk like this to rather intelligent friends, who then nodded and said "that makes sense." The fact that they actually agreed with it was only slightly less shocking than the fact that they survived the experience without their BS detectors exploding.
The ______ Agenda
And anyone uses them?
>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.
In terms that a software engineer can understand, it means that Twitter has hired Dogbert Consulting.
Some mornings it's hardly worth chewing through the restraints to get out of bed.