Twitter’s New TOS: Get Ready For Advertising?!?
I received an email from Pat Jenkins of Uptake.com last week asking me if I had a Twitter account. “Nope,” I wrote her back, “I can’t say anything in 140 characters or less.” The following day I received a promotional letter from Google, no less, with a card good for $100 worth of Ad Words. And something just clicked in my mind: “I wonder if Twitter is about to go to ads or is somehow affecting ad traffic on Google.”
So, on Friday, 11 September 2009, a story broke on Now Public.com regarding Twitter’s new TOS (Terms of Service). Under the new Twitter TOS:
“The Services may include advertisements, which may be targeted to the Content or information on the Services, queries made through the Services, or other information. The types and extent of advertising by Twitter on the Services are subject to change. In consideration for Twitter granting you access to and use of the Services, you agree that Twitter and its third party providers and partners may place such advertising on the Services or in connection with the display of Content or information from the Services whether submitted by you or others.”
Well, now, doesn’t this sound intriguing – “The Services may include advertisements…” This could really shake things up, I think. For example, on the Talkshoe.com service that I use for The VolunTourist Webcast, there are Google Ads on the right hand side of the page. Do I like this? NO, and it is part of the reason I stopped running the webcasts for a while to find another service – haven’t gotten another service yet, but I am working on it. (FYI: Webcasts will begin again on 22 September at 10am ET/14:00 GMT.)
If Twitter does something similar, I think you will lose a host of entities, especially voluntourism-related ones, who cannot afford to have competing brands advertised on their Twitter pages. If Twitter goes with a Google Ad feed, this would be particularly challenging for for-profit voluntourism companies because a number of voluntourism nonprofits get free Google Ads.
The only out for those who want to keep their Twitter feed “unmolested,” which I am sure Twitter is considering, would be to have members of the Twitterati pay to “not” have advertising as part of their Twitter feeds or pages. Major “cash-cow” potential! And if Twitter decides to offer this option, I might just learn how to say something in 140 characters or less.
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