The growing practice of tweeting for dollars raises understandable concerns regarding transparency and disclosure: how do you know if a person is promoting a product or service because she really likes it, or if she’s a paid spokesperson for the company in question?
According to the research firm PQ Media, word-of-mouth marketing increased 14.2 percent to $1.54 billion in 2008. Sponsored Tweets hopes to capture some of those dollars.
As Twitter is is currently set up, there is no easy way for your followers to opt out of commercial messages while accepting your (presumably) noncommercial posts about the brand of cereal you ate for breakfast.
The Obama Administration has recently signaled its interest in such issues, without specifically mentioning paid tweets. Advertisers should accept that disclosure is the way to go; no one wants to be duped by a covertly-paid promoter. You’d have thought that Walmarting Across America would have taught them something by now.
via Tweeting for Dollars – Bits Blog – NYTimes.com.
