Twitters New Method of Targeting for Advertisers

Twitter has finally decided to use the information that it knows about the millions of people who use and log onto Twitter on a daily basis and make money from that information. While it may have taken Twitter a little longer to join the other competitors, it is better late than never. Earlier on in the month, Twitter rolled out a new feature for advertisers that enables them to target Twitter users based on certain demographics and information provided by the users when signing up for the Twitter account. This method of targeting is used by advertiser to help them reach people who will more than likely be interested in what is being advertised and will have a higher chance of re-tweeting the information to their followers.

The director of sales for Twitter, Peter Greenberger, has said, “What you can do now is reach people who have certain interests but who may not necessarily follow you.” He also said, “You couldn’t do that two weeks ago.” Prior to this innovation, in order for advertisers to have the ability to advertise on Twitter, they would have to purchase a promotional tweet. This type of tweet would appear immediately when a person searches in specific words on Twitter. With this new technique, however, Twitter is catering to the advertisers and its users so that it will be a win-win situation for all. Many people believe that this innovative technique will be absolutely beneficial. A campaign strategist, Vincent Harris, has said, “I have used it with some of my clients and I’ve been very impressed.”

Twitter is basically setting up profiles for users to share information about themselves and their interests. The user has the opportunity to volunteer specific information, which is information that may be used to target the individual later on. There are some Twitter users who are not necessarily fans of this idea. An executive director for the Center for Digital Democracy, Jeffrey Chester, has said, “Our decisions about who we vote for and positions we take are personal ones, and Twitter users shouldn’t be sold to the highest special-interest bidder as if they were being pitched fast food or movies.” He also said, “Twitter has tried to position itself as a privacy-sensitive company. It should adopt an opt-in policy for political ads and help set a higher standard for how politics uses the power of the online medium.” Many privacy advocate have been urging regulators to set up some sort of law in which companies must get the consent of the internet user before allowing them to be targeted by advertisements based on information they have provided.