Twitter is reportedly taking its promoted tweets a step further. According to Re/code, its adverts are being tested out on user profiles — so, when you visit another user’s page, you may find targeted ads in their stream.
Just like in your own Twitter feed, the ads are separated out and labelled with a “Suggested by Twitter” tag. See what that looks like in the image, acquired by Re/code, below. It’s worth pointing out that only logged-in users will see ads on a user’s stream — because they’re targeted. And they won’t be applied to verified profiles either, though it’s not clear exactly why.
The initiative is currently in testing, so will only be seen by a small number of users until Twitter decides whether to move forward to it at full-scale — though we suspect it will. It is, after all, a natural extension of Twitter’s current advertising plans.
For those with a rampant dislike of ads, their inclusion in a personal stream may be a step too far — but that’s the price of a notionally free service. The ads are currently being tested on web and mobile version of Twitter, but just for a small number of users. [Re/code]