Sponsored Tweets: Smart Idea or Twitter Spam?

IZEA's Sponsored Tweets launched last fall, and I heard about celebrities getting paid to tweet specific products. When I heard regular tweeters could get paid, I looked into it. I decided not to sign up for two reasons: 1. I had made the decision not to grant any applications access to my Twitter account and 2. It sounded a bit spammy.

The Blob - The Terrifying Tale of How an H & R Sponsored Tweet Took Over Twitter

Time passed and I forgot about Sponsored Tweets... until a bunch of my writer friends signed up at the same time. Suddenly my Twitter account received a barrage of Tweets about H&R Block. Within a 24-hour period, I received 10 identical H&R Block ads. This is sort of amazing given that with 1,500 followers, only three-minutes worth of Tweets ever show up on my page at one time, and I am not one to scroll back to see what I missed. If I saw 10 H & R Block ads in one day, that means many more were sent out.

I did a Twitter search for "H & R Block" while writing this article, and eight identical ads popped up on the page reading "Need a last minute V-Day gift? Nothing says 'I'm responsible' like up to 70% off H&R Block At Home tax products." Since Sponsored Ads tells their affiliates they look more appealing to advertisers if they allow up to two retweets, that's three potential H & R Block ads from each Sponsored Tweets affiliate.

Keywords? What Keywords?

The Sponsored Tweets page allows affiliates to establish their own keywords. The selling point is you should attracts advertisers who advertise things you would be posting about anyway. I decided to test Sponsored Tweets, setting up an account with distinct keywords which would limit my advertisers to arts and entertainment.

My first offer from Sponsored Tweets was to send a message to my followers letting them know I had signed up. I decided to accept that offer and wrote a message stating that I was testing Sponsored Tweets using arts and entertainment keywords to see how targeted the ads are. This message must go through an approval process, and Sponsored Tweets reserves the right to decline my tweet or to run it anytime over the next three days.

No sooner had I accepted the ad from Sponsored Tweets when my next offer rolled in. Guess what it was? "Need a last minute V-Day gift? Nothing says 'I'm responsible'" blah blah blah. So, what happened to Sponsored Tweets being related to keywords?

If I see One More V-Day Sponsored Tweet for H&R Block...

Am I the only one who found this spammy? Apparently not - as I was doing the search on Twitter for H & R Block, I read several posts like this one which read, "If I see one more V-Day sponsored tweet for H&R Block, I swear..."

What happened to common sense in accepting the Sponsored Tweets? I declined the H & R offer, because I didn't want to spam my followers with the same ad everyone else was sending out - an ad that has nothing to do with the arts and entertainment tweets my followers expect from me. And why was H&R Block STILL sending the Valentine's Day message to Sponsored Tweets ON Valentine's Day? I had three days to accept it - that means at least three more days of "Need a last minute V-Day gift?" will show up on people's Twitter accounts AFTER Valentine's Day! Anyone else smell the rotten stench of spam?

Sponsored Tweets Not Without Some Potential

This is an idea that still COULD work, if the ads offered really related to specific keywords, and if people were not so greedy for a buck or two they were willing to spam their friends with the same ads everyone else is sending.

I did an unofficial survey of my followers on Twitter asking what people thought about Sponsored Tweets. Those with a few hundred followers had mixed reactions from very positive to negative. However, those who have carefully built lists of over 1,000 followers or more had a different perspective from very negative to hesitantly positive. On the positive side, the common consensus was if the tweets really were targeted (tied in to what you normally tweet about) and if no more than three DIFFERENT targeted tweets were sent out in a day, there probably was no harm.

Almost all experienced tweeters who responded felt that the H & R ads really pushed the envelope, especially when the ads were sent out a second and third time to the same followers. One person who replied had already written an excellent article about the harm Sponsored Tweets can do to your reputation if you don't read the fine print before you accept an ad (How Paid Tweets Could Ruin Your Reputation), and several posted responses like this one: "That's definitely spammy. I don't agree with people making money off tweets themselves. Cheapens the whole thing. "

An Easy Buck vs. Your Twitter Credibility

I blocked a couple of people that sent more than one sponsored H & R Block ad in one day. That was before I realized they must have selected the option that allows Sponsored Tweets to retweet the same post up to two additional times. But... I am still bemused at why anyone would allow a service like Sponsored Tweets to send the same ad three times when that ad is so clearly spammish. I not only declined the H & R offer, but I declined to allow Sponsored Tweets to repost any tweets a 2nd and 3rd time. I thought I might not get any more offers, but I immediately got two more, one for a phone company, which I declined, and one for my favorite frozen pizza. I did accept the pizza ad, because I love their pizza.

The bottom line is there is more at stake on Twitter than getting a couple of bucks for Sponsored Tweets. Twitter is about creating a brand, a reputation, even a fan base, and establishing credibility. Allowing a service to send spammy ads to your followers does nothing positive for your brand, reputation, or your credibility.

As a writer, my advice to other writers considering Sponsored Tweets is to ask yourself: are you serious about establishing a reputation as a legitimate writer or just out for a quick buck? If you opt to try Sponsored Tweets, use some discretion in which ads you accept and how often you send them, or prepare to be blocked by more serious Twitter users.

Update: Sponsored Tweets& Twitter's New Policies

In May 2010, Twitter announced they would be doing away with many third-party advertisers who are using Twitter to make money. Why? Because as this article points out, such ads have become increasingly spammy. Find out more at How Will Twitter's New Policies Affect Sponsored Tweets & Other Third-Party Advertisers?

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