Yesterday, Twitter launched ExecTweets, a cross between a Twitter app and a sponsored site. A joint effort by Twitter and Federated Media, ExecTweets is still in beta but is basically a Microsoft-sponsored page that aggregates the tweets of various executives. Although this is not exactly the traditional advertising revenue-model, the launch of ExecTweets opens up more branding and sponsorship opportunities. Because now, we can look at Microsoft as the pioneer “advertiser” – and who know what other brands will follow soon?
Some interesting soundbites –
According to the Federated Media blog, “Federated Media, Twitter and Microsoft have created ExecTweets, a real-time tool that helps you to find, follow and engage with the world’s most prolific and successful business executives on Twitter… ExecTweets cuts through the clutter and provides only the most relevant and insightful business-focused conversations – all curated and aggregated into industry verticals…”
And according to the Twitter blog, “Twitter is contacted regularly by brands interested in sponsoring innovative experiences based on topics of interest…. So if you’re a major brand and you want to sponsor a topic-focused social media experience with Twitter, we suggest Federated Media—they’ll fix you up right.” (good job promoting partners!)
An article on All Things Digital states that this seems to be a fairly cautious step into marketing, and I agree – but at least Twitter is finally venturing into sponsorship opportunities. Another article on CNET talks about how this is not yet the big, evasive revenue model users were expecting…
Well, whatever it is, it is definitely something new that could become an avenue for future advertising opportunities! Besides, if you scroll down the bottom of ExecTweets, what do you see? A Microsoft leaderboard…
Exciting news, and I can’t wait to see what the future of (advertising on) Twitter holds!
