If there’s one question I’ve been asked more than any other since starting TwiTip it has been
‘what do you think of ((insert one of numerous Twitter Money Making Programs here))?’
We’ve seen a number of services launched in the last few months that attempt to help Twitter users to make money from their Tweets. Two of the most popular (or at least most talked about) models are:
- Magpie – which inserts automatic tweets from advertisers into your Twittering
- Twittad – which inserts sponsors messages into your Twitter background
Of course others are working on other ways to monetize Twitter (affiliate marketing, promoting their own services and products etc) – but today I’m interested to hear what people think about services like Magpie and Twittad?
Would you use them? Do they impact whether you’ll follow (or how you interact with) other Twitter users? I’m looking forward to hearing your comments below.
@NextInstinct
Fail!
If you add a lot of value to twitter, there is a times where
promoting your interests are fine.
Paid to spam services are horrible.
@Blondie_Writes
I checked Magpie just a couple of hours ago actually, and they want your Twitter password to sign up. I haven’t looked at the other site yet. For me, I wouldn’t want to do it simply because they do ask for the password. It might be safe, but it bothers me personally. So, no, I wouldn’t do it, unless they changed that particular part, then perhaps.
@DerekHalpern
If it’s used the right way for the right reasons, I wouldn’t have a problem with monetizing Twitter followers. However, I would expect the Twitter user to follow some sort of code. Maybe 1 Advertising Tweet per 50 non-advertising tweets.
@djackmanson
Magpie: Never, Never Never! And I will unfollow anyone who uses it.
Twitad: Not as obtrusive or annoying as Magpie, but who uses the website anymore? I use Twitterfox on my computer, and slandr on my phone. How many people are actually going to see these ads?
@seshuthephotog
I am not 100% sure I would use them. Magpie looks at least a little bit more elegant, but I have heard things on Twitter where people have been kinda pissed off at them. So, it will be a watch and see approach. Also, hoisting offers on people who are following you may be perceived as a tad bit tacky. It’s all in the approach. Things may evolve where it may be possible, like websites and Google-ads, to have Twitter posts with simple links that offer content-oriented services or products that may be of some real value to everyone looking at it. It’s definitely unchartered territory.
@eMarv
Thanks Darren!
I signed up for magpie a few weeks ago and so far it seems ok. I don’t believe anyone has unfollowed me because of it. Twittad looks interesting and will be signing up for that, too!
I wonder if the the twittad advertiser response rate is there though since many twitterati post via tools like tweetdeck, twitterfox, etc. It’d be interesting to see how that plays out.
Happy Trails from rainy Panama!
M
@alohateam
Hi Darren,
You know, I might not mind if twitter itself was to insert some advertising as a way to monetize their service. But, when it comes to individual users, twitter has already be “discovered” by marketers. Once “regular” people also decide that it’s something that even needs to be monetized, I think it will become infinitely less interesting to be a user … more junk to wade through to find the occasional nugget of useful information.
Just my opinion,
Todd
@Young_Yang
I will keep following the Twitter ID who inserted ADs in their Tweets if I still can find some useful information from their other tweets. But I am not sure if they will still follow me if I inserted ADs in my tweets.
@Booklorn
I suppose it’s alright as long as it’s not too frequent and as long as it is clear that it’s an ad. The problem I see is that if you are following multiple people who use these ad services then it doesn’t matter if the individual accounts are only sending 1:50 ads:tweets, the reader will be seeing a lot more ads. If the total number of ads exceeded my threshold then i would stop following, but I don’t know what that threshold is.
@terifitzgerald
Ummmm… no on Magpie. I would not want ads included in my tweets. I only use twitter to connect personally, so this would be tacky and so not me. I do not like following those who insert spammy tweets promoting stuff over and over again. If I want to check them out, I will visit the link to their website or blog. I follow people out of a genuine interest in them, and not to read about stuff totally unrelated.
I might consider Twittad. It does not look totally intrusive, and I would not mind a small ad on my page. I would have to test this one out first to truly give an honest opinion, but it does not look like it would truly interfere with my twitter experience.
@chinamatt
I don’t think I’d use any of them. I’d have to be able to approve any ads that they’d put up there. Besides, I use twitter for networking and news more than anything–it’s more of a fun thing.
@eMarv
Just to add, I would not unfollow anyone (as of right now) for using magpie (as along as the magpie tweets are less than every other tweet) or twittad.
It’s still raining…
@rampantheart
I have not tried Twittad yet. Magpie worked fine for about a day or two. After that there were no updates. Don’t really know what the problem is! But i keep seeing Magpie ads on other people’s tweets! I am not sure i’ll try Twittad now that most twitter users say they will unfollow people that use spam! Money is not half a interesting as tweople! So, i don’t think i’ll join any such programs in the near future!:)
@gottitravel
I have no problem with seeing magpie advertisement if it does not occur spam like. I do not wish to see a magpie tweet from a person more than 3 times a day. I am currently using magpie myself and find it very useful. The ads make sense for those interested.
This is my first time hearing about twittad. I would not mind seeing advertisement in someone’s twitter background. It would not bother me one bit. I’m use to seeing so much advertisement that I have programmed myself to only read ads that interest me.
We will see how things work out with magpie and twittad as time goes by. I have made my first $5.00 with magpie after a few weeks. Five dollars is not a lot of money, but it’s money I did not have before. I just add it to my pot of money that I make from other affiliate programs.
-Teresa
@stephaniefoster
Definitely wouldn’t use Magpie. I saw several using it at first, but the numbers seem to have dropped, at least in those I follow.
Twittad, just don’t see the point. Not enough people visit individual Twitter pages regularly, so I would expect the benefit to advertisers to be low.
Overall, I’d just rather that the person benefiting from the people checking out my profile and/or following me be me or sites and articles I chose to mention. Twitter is personal and professional for me, and that mix means I want more control over what is said in my name.
@Dantanner
There is revolt in the ranks of twitters about Magpie. Well Magpie has not proved itself yet. Commercialization is a fact of life in the US sooner or later it will be embraced by all.
@AlexForce
- Magpie – no.
- Twittad – maybe.
@joelcomm
Hey Darren,
I’ve been messing around with Magpie. It seems only house ads, so they need some advertisers.
Also, I am including you in my new Twitter book due out in February. http://www.TwitterPower.com
Joel
@AlexForce
Magpie – NO, Twittad – MAYBE.
@aflyonthewall
I have been using magpie and it gives you several options – rate of ads vs tweets – you can even approve ads prior to them being aired in your timeline.
I don’t know if people have unfollowed me because of it or not. I still chat and talk business between, but I tend to ReTweet ads from friends as a means of supporting their livelyhood!
It is easy enough to scroll to the next tweet!
@LGR
Twittad is ok. I don’t use them but you don’t see the ad unless you visit the profile. Magpie on the other hand is really nothing but Tweetspam. Both services could have problems if Twitter decided to monetize in those ways.
@kylecameron
I don’t unfollow Magpie users, but I naturally look at them in a different light…that can be a good thing or a bad thing, but generally I’ll look a bit down on someone trying to exploit the personal nature of their network for monetary gain
@sankum
Thanks Darren! I personally will say a Big NO to Magpie. I think it will annoy our followers. I will not use it but will not unfollow anyone who uses it.
@jhapik
I agree. There must be another ways to monetize your twitter account instead using this two options.
@shawnjooste
I had a brief look at Magpie a little while ago, and when you do the math it’s quite scary. If you follow say 1000 people (which isn’t much), and they all have 1-2 magpie ads a day, you are cluttering an already cluttered stream. That means you need to sift through 2000 odd magpie ads to try and follow the conversation. I don’t mind people promoting their blogs. If I follow you on twitter, chances are I have an interest in your blog or site or service. But the Magpie ads are less about relevancy.
@devannielsen
I haven’t noticed either of these services being used on twitter, i’ve only read about them.
I agree that I would not stop following someone if the ads are unobtrusive and not spam like.
My question is how much is someone actually going to make from these services? I doubt you would even come close to $100/year. In my opinion it’s not worth that for me to use their service.
@rizzy81
I call it spam.
Regards: rizzy
http://twitter.com/rizzy81
@aflyonthewall
Hey Joel – if you switch your magpie options to “Pre-Approval On” you will know just who advertises – they try to match your ads to your tweets – so mine are mostly jewelry links!
@robynmcintyre
I won’t use them. I don’t mind checking out the projects of my twitter friends, but I don’t want to view or force my followers to view random ads.
@PetervanVeen
Well, my opinion about this: both thing looks to me as spam. And I don’t like spam. So as said before, I’ll unfollow everyone who is using it.
BIG NoNo for me!
@coryobrien
I am DEFINITELY not a fan of Magpie: http://thefutureofads.com/2008/11/03/magpie-tries-to-make-twitter-an-ad-network-fails/
However, I don’t mind Twittad.
In my opinion, it all depends on how much they interrupt the natural flow of conversation on Twitter. Magpie pretends to be that conversation, so in my mind, it’s just spam, whereas Twittad sits behind the actual conversation, so you can easily filter if it’s not relevant, or engage if it is.
@coryobrien
The other no-no that Magpie did recently was to allow users to choose their own disclaimer. At least when each Magpie post was preceded with #magpie, they were easy to filter. When users can select their own, it will be infinitely more difficult to filter out what’s spam and what’s genuine, since the hash tag has become a standard character in tweets, and doesn’t stand out as being out of the ordinary. Plus, Magpie has even given users the option of removing the disclaimer entirely, which goes against every WOMMA rule imaginable. If you’re getting paid, you need to identify it as such, or your just tricking and lying to your followers to get a better response rate on the ads.
@holeinhiseye
I personally think it looks spammy but haven’t as yet unfollowed someone because of it. If in future it creates a lot of non value noise then i’d simply unfollow. Twitter democarcy at its best.
Richard
@thebookgarden
There is so much hysteria about magpie and ads (not seen any twitads!) on twitter it’s quite incredible, people who are saying they will unfollow anyone using magpie are being incredibly blinkered. If the magpie user is posting interesting and relevent content (which is the reason they were followed in the first place!!) why would you unfollow them because they occasionally insert an ad? As magpie allow you to set the ad frequency it can be used responsibly, but using it at it’s highest setting and tweeting crap is not likely to gain any followers.
It’s interesting comparing this study of yours with your recent one about how many people will follow another just because they are being followed, was it near 90% said no they don;t do this automatically? There are many better reasons for not following or unfollowing people because of their use of twitter for displaying the odd ad. It seems to me that those who are saying that they will unfollow twitterers because they are serving ads are very likely to be the sort of people in the 10% who are following others unselectively in the first place and should really have better criteria for why they follow people.
I don’t serve twitter ads myself and those who I do follow that have started using magpie I continue to follow as they do include value and interest in their tweets. I do occassionally serve my own affiliate ads though!
@alexmendoza
I don’t like the idea.
@tiddlytwinks
Hi Darren,
Thank you for posing this question as I’ve wondered myself what you personally think of these services being used on Twitter.
Personally, I feel both Magpie and Twittad are spam and have no business on Twitter. I will unfollow those who use either, as my reason for being on Twitter is to Build Personal Relationships with other Twitter users.
Not be spammed by anyone I choose to follow.
Time will tell if those who use either or any like services on Twitter find themselves tweeting in the dark all by themselves and to themselves.
@mintblogger
Magpie is the easiest way to kill our twitter account. It’s a big no-no for me.
Twitad – MAYBE in future…
@megony
Magpie is probably not a good idea. There is a lot of trust placed on what other users say on Twitter and creating a spammy environment on it will alter the environment completely.
@ZolaMarquis
Darren
I am actively using twitter but after reading your post and good flow of comments feels fortunate not to have come across any such painful situation where my followers are populating their space with tweets glued with ads.
To be honest, now am curious to experience both the services on first-hand before forming any opinion. But am afraid at the same time. You tell me your experience if you have or will go with these advertisers?
best
zola
@thebookgarden
[quote]@Booklorn
I suppose it’s alright as long as it’s not too frequent and as long as it is clear that it’s an ad. The problem I see is that if you are following multiple people who use these ad services then it doesn’t matter if the individual accounts are only sending 1:50 ads:tweets, the reader will be seeing a lot more ads. If the total number of ads exceeded my threshold then i would stop following, but I don’t know what that threshold is.
[/unquote]
Very well put! The thing I’ve noticed from Monitter.com when using the keyword ‘magpie’ is that a lot of the ad tweets are sent together, so the more you follow people who use it the more chance you will have a page full of ads.
@mombloggersclub
Magpie: Absolutely not.
Twittad: I doubt it.
I like Twitter the way it is.
@stancymckatt
If I notice that someone is using Magpie, I usually unfollow that person pretty quickly. I don’t want my twitter feed full of advertisements, and I find Magpie’s pretty annoying. I haven’t ran into Twittad yet, so I can’t say what I’d do on that one.
@tazzman61
I would not use Magpie because it would take so long to get anything from them. It seems like a big waste of time to me.
@BlogVibrator
i have signed up to both (so i could try them out) and here are my thoughts
MAGPIE: they dont have enough advertisers… when i logged in 2 days ago it had a message saying “You’re ready for a magpie-tweet! Hold on, it’ll soon be aired.” Im waiting for my first tweet to go through before deciding if i want to keep it or not.
Being an internet marketer myself, i understand why peaple use them so i dont mind them unless they go overboard. with magpie, you can choose your own tweet /ad ratio. if it was shown at less than 10/1 then i would unfollow them. if it was say 50/1 then i wouldnt mind it. For example, @Problogger uses twitter feed but i have him on google reader, if he didnt have a good tweets/feed ratio then i would unfollow him, but since he posts updates, i havnt.
i personaly have mine at 100/1 ratio so an ad is only shown after 100 tweets so it doesnt annoy my followers as much… i also have DISCLOSURE on mine all ads are prefixed with [SPONSOR].
these services if used properly, is fine, its the same as peaple using twitterfeed. i somtimes found it annoying getting automatic tweets but peaple still used it. i just had to learn to get used to them.
@BlogVibrator
Can i also mention, that you should all try them out before saying “big waste of time”, “Magpie’s pretty annoying”, ect.
Magpie is not annoying, the user who is using them is. its up to you to make sure you use them appropriately.
@judyrey
I would not use them and have not noticed that anyone I follow is, but I am relatively new to being active.
I have no problem wit anyone promoting their own work and sites, that is part of the fun and experience. Lots of interesting blogs and ideas and more to learn from and about.
But a real advertisement? No. Why not just wear a billboard every time one goes anywhere? Or wear emblems. Twitter is not a NASCAR race.
However real retweets or a recommendations have led me to some great discoveries.
Good post and I discovered it on Twitter.
Judy Rey Wasserman
@andreipetrik
One of the reasons why I don’t follow back is because of someone trying too hard to sell me something. I am more likely to follow a brand that is relevant to me and doesn’t produce twitter noise.
@hectorhenry17
I would like to use one like Twittad i think from my beginning in twitter that it was not fun to have full control in some stuff in something so call microblogin but i cant complane.
@theadequate
Wow – Watching the convos on these two monetization methods raises all sorts of questions for me. Would it be a bad idea to create a ’shameless commerce’ tweetstream separate from your ‘communicating with friends etc’ stream and make it available with the understanding that this is specifically to help monetize?
@Booklorn
Why would anyone sign up for an ad “channel”?
@benhigham
Traditional companies (and people) seem to be struggling to figure out how to make money off advertising online; best example is newspaper websites. The transition from print media to the web has been rough for most in terms of advertising. A lot of the news sites are fond of obtrusive, distracting and irrelevant advertisements thrown right into the middle of articles, I think a similar situation would arise from advertisers on Twitter.
I think there exists a tactful way to advertise, and although Facebook has faltered initially with their data collection and advertising methods I think they are finally understanding how to present relevant, appealing and unobtrusive advertisements to its users. Perhaps other social media platforms and advertising companies could learn to leverage the content and interests of it’s users to provide relevant (and more importantly useful) advertising.
@ganeshsrinivas
At first, I was curious about using Magpie and Twittad, but after seeing how others feel about them, I’ve decided not to use them. There are many ways of making money from twitter, but I feel that it is exploitation. Twitter is a social networking medium, not a market.
@alwaysoptional
Magpie is a big No for me. I can understand ghost writing, but with something as personal as twitter it seems more like identity sharing. People may end up thinking you have multiple personalities.
Twittad doesn’t seem terrible. However it would add a background noise. I would compare it to elevator music in a mall. You might not notice it all the time, but it can be quite annoying at times. For anyone like me, who uses twitter for discovering information, it could change the feel of it.
@msjuanta
I use Magpie. I’m still in the investigation stage. There’s no harm in trying. I’ll give it two weeks. Then let’s see what happens.
You’ve got a great blog here, and I love your post. Thanks, keep it up!
These work, but not very well.
Magpie is basically CJ links which they take a cut of and give you the rest. why not do it yourself?
TwitAd is pretty good, but why sell your background?
Use it to promote your own website.
@affiliating
Yes I do using both magpie and twittad but till now i am not able to make descent money from that .You should have quite a more followers to your twitter profile in order to make money from them.For great tricks on twitter(like to increase your followers and make more money from your twitter profile) visit http://bit.ly/TlXWr
There are heaps of programs that are using twitter for financial gain.
There is a list of them on this site, http://www.twittermoneymaking.com
I find it pretty interesting that some people can make a boat load of money from these things.
@giaiphapso
I found the best way to earn money with Twitter here: http://bit.ly/qEx2I
@twtbuck
Have you checked Twtbuck? Its a keyword targeted ad serving platform for twitter to make money from twitter equivalent to tweet worth of user.