In mid-December, Twitter started offering businesses the opportunity to get their accounts promoted to potential followers in users’ timelines. This is in addition to the Promoted Accounts that have run in Twitter’s “Who to Follow” section.
Now, it appears Twitter is rolling out the service to anyone who wants more followers on the micro-blogging, short-message-broadcast service.
Over the weekend, I started getting messages from Twitter under my profile summary that encouraged me to “Gain more followers.”
“Promote your account and get discovered by more people on Twitter,” it said. The ad led to the company’s advertising campaign page. Users can target potential followers by region and interests with their “promoted account.”
Promoted accounts are basically ads that prompt users to follow accounts for businesses or brands. They make it easy to do by including a “follow” button directly in the post.
I’m just a journalist who uses Twitter to keep up on news and for fun. I don’t see the need to pay for followers. But I’m sure there are more than a few egomaniacs on Twitter who will like the idea to boost their self-worth with more “followers.”
Twitter recommended that I bid $2.50 to $3.50 for each new Twitter follower I get. At the midpoint, that would mean my 700 Twitter followers are worth $2,100. But that seems inflated, given how many of my followers are spam accounts or inactive users. According to StatusPeople, 6% of my Twitter followers are fake and 40% are inactive.
Twitter ads such as “promoted tweets” and “promoted accounts” have been available to individual users and businesses since last April. But I’ve never been promoted to join before. I sense that Twitter is increasing promotion of its ad tools.
Photos: Screenshots of Twitter’s ad pitches to me.
Related reading:
Twitter investors love ad rollout, but users pushing back. (Dec. 26, 2013)
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