Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Now Advertisers Are Watching Your Emojis On Twitter (thenextweb.com)

Posted by msmash on from the ads,-ads-everywhere dept.

Tweet a pizza emoji, and expect to see promoted tweets from Domino's and Pizza Hut on your feed. Twitter has announced that it would now let advertisers target users based on the emojis they post on the microblogging platform. Gizmodo reports: The social network, which hasn't made a profit despite a decade of trying, is trying to compete in a world where everyone is thirsty for those big advertising dollars. Just this week, Facebook said it would start using location services to track which stores you go into, something Google has been doing for years. Snapchat's thinking the same thing with new features that allow full-screen video ads between friends' stories.

49 comments

  1. toot toot toot!!! by For+a+Free+Internet · · Score: -1

    Hey hey hey everybodye! Hey hey he everybodddy!!!! Huffua hudda bonk boingty poop galoot?! TYhe invisible hadn is the best! Everything is funky and you will buy it! Hahahahaha BLOOD! BLOOD! hahahah ha children ;et's buy things!!! Ploinky ploing toad bolololololololuiga SLASHDORT!

    SLASHDORT

    --
    UNITE with the Campaign for a Free Internet because today, our future begins with tomorrow!
    1. Re: toot toot toot!!! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Slashdort.

  2. /emoji middle finger by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Damn now I'm getting ads for giant foam fingers for my favorite sports team.

    1. Re: /emoji middle finger by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Hillary Clinton

  3. Poop emoji by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I wonder who will target that?

    1. Re:Poop emoji by Megahard · · Score: 1

      Anyone selling FMT pills.

      --
      I eat only the real part of complex carbohydrates.
    2. Re:Poop emoji by PPH · · Score: 1

      Charmin.

      --
      Have gnu, will travel.
  4. What ads will I get? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    What if I never use emoji? Will they show me ads for products designed to keep the kids off my lawn?

  5. QUICK, SHOW ME SOME ADS by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I need to know if McDonalds, Coka Cola and WalMart are still in business and selling the same things.

    Said no one, ever.

    Can I still buy toilet paper? Oh god, how do I type a shit emoji on a PC?

    1. Re: QUICK, SHOW ME SOME ADS by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I need to know if McDonalds is selling the McRib currently. I depend on the ads.

    2. Re: QUICK, SHOW ME SOME ADS by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      This.

      Wait, there's a McRib emoji?!

    3. Re:QUICK, SHOW ME SOME ADS by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I don't know that McDonalds has ever sold what they advertise. I never saw those big burgers with juicy meat patties there, only burgers with compressed buns that look like particleboards and dry overcooked patties that look like shoe soles.

    4. Re: QUICK, SHOW ME SOME ADS by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      FWIW, some of their stuff is better now, like that artisan grilled chicken thing (well, the bread's better at least, and it's kinda hard to fuck up grilled chicken). It's probably the closest they'll get to quality, but then it also costs almost as much as a burger at a real restaurant...

    5. Re: QUICK, SHOW ME SOME ADS by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Thanks for the heads up, Pajeet. 2500 rupees have been deposited to your account.

  6. Don't use twitter? by p51d007 · · Score: -1

    Never did understand the attraction of twitter, when you have a PHONE in front of you. I've seen kids in places twittering, texting SITTING RIGHT NEXT TO EACH OTHER. Personal interaction is rapidly becoming a lost art, just as writing a letter was back when I was a kid. (yeah, I'm THAT old)

    1. Re:Don't use twitter? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I'm waiting for the next super massive solar flare lasting three years. It ill be like the tower of babble.

    2. Re:Don't use twitter? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "Personal interaction is rapidly becoming a lost art, just as writing a letter was back when I was a kid."

      I travel internationally, and I still write letters back home. They arrive with foreign stamps attached, and I don't give a damn if they are ever opened, much less read.
      In time, I collect them back; there is a large stack of them just by my left elbow.
      This is something that has been lost- The Paper Trail.
      Recently, I asked a girl... hell, she has been a woman for decades... if she was interested in the letters that I've been sending her all these years, always returned, always unopened. She wasn't interested; she now tweets, I don't.
      I'm considered more than a little odd by those friends left to me. But at least I'm not a California Best Friend. A Best Friend until the change of seasons, or addresses, or TV schedules prompts the desire for new Best Friends.

      You fucking losers, with your apps and your tweets and your anime and your emojis, all originally designed for pre-pubescent Asian schoolgirls. As if you could ever actually be one.

      -Phileas F.

    3. Re:Don't use twitter? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The tower of Babel is more like the different groups of the 'Diversity in our society', or the different cultures of our 'Multiculturalism society' each talking their own language. And with own language I don't mean like English vs French, but a Christian Creationist talking to an atheist 4th wave feminist transgender. They use the same language, but they do not understand what the other is telling them.

      When I was a kid, old people talked the same language, but they at different values as us. We still understood them however. They experienced world wars, we only experienced peace. We had respect for those older people.

      But the different cultures or the 'diversities' in today's society are quite different. I've a Muslim colleague trying to convert me as a non religious person to Islam. I hear what he says, but I simply do not understand him when he recites his verses that should convince me somehow, while I don't believe in angles nor gods. He doesn't understand how I can not see 'the truth' with his irrefutable proofs he recites.

      In the same way I hear another person telling me that we should all be humane and help all refugees who drown in the Mediterranean sea. I don't really understand what she means with that. Does she really believe we can save those fortune seekers while we sit on our lazy ass behind our desk while doing menial work for our boss, as long as we vote for the right political party? I explain that we can't stop people from mounting too small inflatable boats with too many people, and that those people are simply fortune seekers who risk their life because they think they get a free house and a job, which is something we can't offer them. The refugees who really need help are stuck between many fronts in a country where we can not say which group of warriors are the 'good' one. If we really want to help, we have to make clear that we can't import millions of Africans and when we want to help refugees we have to send an army to rescue those poor villagers in Syria/Iraq who are the real refugees. She doesn't understand me and calls me selfish and even racist. We talk a language with the same word, but we don't understand each other. Instead of throwing labels at me, she could at least try to discuss her view and how her idea would help people in need. But that doesn't help, she is of the same ideology as many politicians in the EU and they are right and everyone who doesn't agree is wrong and racist or xenophobe.

      This is Babel. Europe or the EU is Babel. People probably mean well, but they talk different 'languages'. Sometimes because they are so convinced of their own ideology and can't understand people who believe in another ideology. Sometimes because some people are really specialized in a small field while they try to explain a problem to some politician who has no clue (happens often with lobbyists). Sometimes because one side is deeply religious and the other is non religious.

      I live close to a castle of the Teutonic Order. This is an order that exists from the 11th century until the early 19th century and was spread all across Europe and the Mediterranean. The castle, some 2 km from where I live, is still in perfect condition and is half museum/half touristic. The castle is also older than the Teutonic order and the oldest buildings are dated back to the 2nd century (administrative center/hospital in the Roman Empire). We often do a medieval role playing game and we try to be as authentic as possible, including wearing a white tabard with a black cross. 1,5 year ago, when we were practicing for the upcoming touristic season, we got a visit from the police. Apparently some Muslims were offended that we wore Crusaders outfits. They were offended and called us racist. We did not understand, we just continued a 1000 year old tradition (that never ever stopped). Yes, the castle was once the training ground for the real crusaders, but their purpose was to reconquer land that was lost to Muslim invaders. Some legends claim that the castle was once owned by the

  7. That seems unlikely by Paul+Carver · · Score: 2

    I think there's been some mistake. I don't have any emojis on Twitter. Can someone please fact check the title of this article. Maybe they meant someone else's emojis rather than mine.

    1. Re:That seems unlikely by AmiMoJo · · Score: 1

      I think they meant me. I keep posting shit emoji and now I'm seeing lots of Apple ads.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
  8. Oo==||||'==D ~~~~ by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    n/t

    1. Re:Oo==||||'==D ~~~~ by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      \O~o/

    2. Re:Oo==||||'==D ~~~~ by inode_buddha · · Score: 1

      ( E@3 )
      / /U\ \

      --
      C|N>K
  9. OMG DUH by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Look, since the invention of fucking doritos, everytime you say the word "triangle", Pepsico kills a kitten. Have You ever read any book about communication sciences??? or the only thing that you did at campus was aprtying and smoke weed (without oing that stydying other sciences besides exact sciences)???

  10. Oh advertisers by JustAnotherOldGuy · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Oh advertisers, is there anything you won't rub your greasy little dicks on in the hope of getting a few more dollars?

    --
    Just cruising through this digital world at 33 1/3 rpm...
  11. So? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Well, at least we can be thankful that nothing of value will be lost.

  12. Good for them. What's the problem? by fustakrakich · · Score: 1

    That is what these services exist for. They are an advertising platform. Instead of complaining, make the best of it and try to pull in a few bucks yourselves. It doesn't cost you anything.

    --
    “He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
    1. Re:Good for them. What's the problem? by geekmux · · Score: 2

      That is what these services exist for. They are an advertising platform. Instead of complaining, make the best of it and try to pull in a few bucks yourselves. It doesn't cost you anything.

      Social media doesn't "exist" to rob you of every fucking shred of privacy, which is the price you ultimately pay.

      Of course, me having to explain that to you clearly demonstrates the Millennial demographic you represent, and the attitude towards privacy that I fucking despise.

      Enjoy your "free" services, since it's clear you would sell your soul as long as the price is right.

    2. Re: Good for them. What's the problem? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Wow, you are so wrong. "Social media" exists *precisely* to extract as much information about you, your friends, and your family that is possible in order to give advertisers the best profile possible.

      You don't really think Zuckerberg cares that you get to connect with long-lost friends and probably cheat on your wife, do you? Naw, all he sees is metadata and keywords.

    3. Re:Good for them. What's the problem? by fustakrakich · · Score: 1

      You are being emotional and irrational. They didn't "rob" you of anything. Please, stop with the ranting and hand waving and think it through. The phone book is global now. You can talk to anybody in the world for free. And you might even be able to talk them out of some money. There is no "robbery".

      --
      “He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
    4. Re: Good for them. What's the problem? by geekmux · · Score: 2

      Wow, you are so wrong. "Social media" exists *precisely* to extract as much information about you, your friends, and your family that is possible in order to give advertisers the best profile possible.

      You don't really think Zuckerberg cares that you get to connect with long-lost friends and probably cheat on your wife, do you? Naw, all he sees is metadata and keywords.

      You really think me or the other billion humans on this planet give a flying fuck what Zuckerberg's mission statement is?

      I wasn't talking about the business end of social media. I was talking about the purpose in which people use social media. And it wasn't to rob you of every shred of privacy, secretly record every conversation while running in the background, and track your every fucking move on this planet.

      People simply don't give a shit about privacy anymore, all because the price is right.

    5. Re:Good for them. What's the problem? by geekmux · · Score: 1

      You are being emotional and irrational. They didn't "rob" you of anything. Please, stop with the ranting and hand waving and think it through. The phone book is global now. You can talk to anybody in the world for free. And you might even be able to talk them out of some money. There is no "robbery".

      How ironic you use the words "think it through", as if anyone has a choice in the matter anymore. 99.999% of humans will end up 100% traced and monitored on some social media platform in the near future, leaving even those who don't wish to participate ultimately participating anyway because you will be tracked as the anomaly that will stick out like a sore thumb.

      Don't want to use a cell phone anymore due to privacy concerns? You'll be the obvious one in the crowd of human tracking, scrutinized all the more by every provider of services on the planet. It's not hard to see where this is going, so wake up and understand that nothing is "free", and options are a dissolving illusion.

    6. Re:Good for them. What's the problem? by TigerPlish · · Score: 1

      They are an advertising platform. Instead of complaining, make the best of it and try to pull in a few bucks yourselves. It doesn't cost you anything.

      Do you have your car vinyl-wrapped in a garish multicolor rolling ad in exchange for compensation?

      That's one physical manifestation of what you seem to be suggesting we do. Deface our "X" for money.

      Or are you suggesting something else? What is it, exactly? How would users monetize it for their own gain? Become an advertiser? Of what, precisely? Jimmy Joe's Bit Shack, Computer Services and IT Management?

      Oh good god I said "monetize," now I feel like I need a shower, so filthy is MBA-speak.

      --
      The "Civilized World" jumped the shark ca. 1973.
    7. Re:Good for them. What's the problem? by fustakrakich · · Score: 1

      Do you have your car vinyl-wrapped in a garish multicolor rolling ad in exchange for compensation?

      If the car comes free for it, why not? Anyway, the bus I ride has all the garish multicolor rolling ads on it, and it's not free.

      Become an advertiser?

      Yes, Jimmy Joe, sell your own shit. And if you can sell space on your page (which I doubt), go for it. Online consulting D2D (door to door), you never know, you might find a way to get paid for telling a guy how to plug in his printer.

      --
      “He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
    8. Re:Good for them. What's the problem? by fustakrakich · · Score: 1

      Yes, people who don't blend in stand out and draw attention to themselves. Can you really tell me anything that is new about that?

      --
      “He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
    9. Re:Good for them. What's the problem? by geekmux · · Score: 1

      Yes, people who don't blend in stand out and draw attention to themselves. Can you really tell me anything that is new about that?

      Yes, I can. Doing absolutely nothing to avoid drawing attention will ultimately draw attention. Even in what used to be the privacy of your IoT-powered home, which you also will have no choice or say in the matter. Any options to maintain privacy are being systemically eliminated, so you won't merely be forced to "blend in". You will become assimilated, or else.

      I'm done feeding this. If you don't get it by now, you never will.

      Cheers.

    10. Re:Good for them. What's the problem? by fustakrakich · · Score: 1

      No, doing anything different is what draws the attention. Forget about privacy, you don't have it. You never did. Learn another way to deal with it.

      --
      “He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
  13. Beautiful. End of social media by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    With more & more companies announcing more & more intrusive ways to shove advertising down our throats I have no doubt that this will be the 'end of social media' soon enough. App downloads have already plateaued & are even in decline. FB is having trouble with retention, Twitter has always had trouble with that & making money etc.

    The beginning of the end of social media (with ALL its glorious flaws) is upon us.

  14. Standard emoji's ?? by Archfeld · · Score: 2

    The idea of using emoji's or modern ascii art is distasteful enough, but the reality that there aren't really standards and what you send might not be what is received only make communication more difficult. Kind of like sending smoke signals on a really windy day, or color coding things when 1/4th of the recipients are color blind. Is this really where things are going, like in Blade Runner, where the people on the street speak slang only and rest of the people speak a totally different language, or maybe the comparison between Greek and Latin.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...

    --
    errr....umm...*whooosh* *whoosh* Is this thing on ?
    1. Re:Standard emoji's ?? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "... or maybe the comparison between Greek and Latin."

      I'm more than a little familiar with the history of Latin- Ancient, Church, and the Romance Language derivatives. (There are only two major veins of Greek, Ancient Greek, which is dead, and Modern Greek, which soon will be.)

      What you glaringly missed out on in your somewhat scattered but still interesting screed was Egyptian Hieroglyphics. "Emojis" have been around for a long, long time- graphical representations of a concept or a material thing, for those who don't share common written or spoken languages.
      The thing about graphical representations is that the concepts or material things must be universal, so it doesn't really matter if you speak early Dynastic Egyptian, or Latin, or Greek, or even Cityspeak. But say, an emoji for a bacon sarnie will mean little to those for whom "Bacon" and a "Sandwich" have little or no meaning, or even worse, a meaning quite different from that with which it is meant.

      Which is why, in today's world, "standard emojis" can't possibly exist. Unless of course, one can make a farthing or two on the carriage costs. Relayed misunderstandings can be profitable.

      Captcha: impudent

  15. Dominoes Australia already let you order by emoji by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Dominoes will sell your preferred and pre stored order when you sms a pizza emoji to them

  16. it? by For+a+Free+Internet · · Score: -1

    Slashdort.

    The Facebook of the Internet.

    --
    UNITE with the Campaign for a Free Internet because today, our future begins with tomorrow!
  17. Thank God... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I never got involved in that social media garbage.

  18. The poop emoji by tensigh · · Score: 1

    You know, there's a poop emoji - who tracks you if you post that? Toilet paper companies? Laxatives? Taco Bell?

    1. Re:The poop emoji by Alumoi · · Score: 1

      Politicians, as it's clear you're talking about them.

  19. Emoji code not standard. by Archfeld · · Score: 1

    I get what you mean regarding the interpretation of icons or hieroglyphics and maybe I was unclear in my point, that when I send a curly haired little winkie guy, you might receive a chocolate ice cream cone, because the underlying code was not standard, not so much as the conceptual difference which you correctly outlined.

    While Latin remained the main written language of the Roman Empire, Greek came to be the language spoken by the well-educated elite, as most of the literature studied by Romans was written in Greek. In the eastern half of the Roman Empire, which later became the Byzantine Empire, Latin was never able to replace Greek, and after the death of Justinian, Greek became the official language of the Byzantine government. The expansion of the Roman Empire spread Latin throughout Europe, and Vulgar Latin evolved into dialects in different locations, gradually shifting into many distinct Romance languages.
    http://www.crystalinks.com/rom...

    --
    errr....umm...*whooosh* *whoosh* Is this thing on ?
  20. From now on by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    ... expect to see promoted tweets ...

    I'm adding peach and eggplant emojis to all my communiques.

  21. Promoted Tweets by allo · · Score: 1

    The fastest way to get me to block your account.

  22. No problem by mrdogi · · Score: 1

    Cancelled my twitter account a long time ago, despise Emojis, so no problems here. :) works just fine for me.

    Now get off my lawn!