Tim McNabb – Webmaster

Tweet for Pay

I was asked by a Twitter colleague Brian Carter (http://twitter.com/briancarter) to comment on the issues raised by Twittering not for fun, but for profit.  TweetROI.com is a service currently in Beta where both marketers and Twitterers can come together.  As I understand it, marketers can fund Twitterers to advocate for their product, cause or service.  Twitterers presumably can get paid for advocating the same. 

Understandably, folks are concerned that if someone is being paid to promote a product or service they are somehow less authentic than someone who does it for free.  I do understand this view though it does not carry the day in my mind.  We all do things for our own motives, and while I do think that most of us do many things because it feels good to help, that is still a motive benefiting oneself.    The Illusion Of Transparency In Social Media  does a good job of outlining the counter-argument that “objectivity” is illusory when you think about it. 

That said, I think  a Twitterer and Billy Mays (Mr. OxyClean & Miracle Putty) have categorical differences beyond the size of their paycheck.  Billy Mays is not a trusted expert in cleaning shirts or making permanent repairs with epoxy.  He’s a paid pitchman and I don’t think people think he is much more than that.  I doubt he has ever repaired a coffee cup and used it afterwards.   

On the other hand, the guys and gals I follow on Twitter are those I recognize as bringing useful stuff to my attention.  One of my favorites is 10minuteexpert, every day he puts out three or four web-related tweets that I look at closely.  I know he knows what he’s talking about, so if he pitched a software package, I am confident that that package would be a good one, and I would actually be pleased to learn he made a little scratch off the sale.

A Twitterer with a large following has credibility for reasons other than waking up one day and deciding to have credibility.  Billy Mays pays hundreds of dollars to pitch his products to me on obscure cable channels.  I choose to follow a Twitterer.  If 10minuteexpert suddenly started pitching golf clubs or invited people to sign up for a free Mac Air, the bubble of objectivity would be busted (at least for those products).  If he did it a bunch of times a day, the “unfollow” would be swiftly struck.

In my work, I manage pay-per-click campaigns, and I’m very interested in exploring pay-per-tweet.  I know we sell a good product (community pharmacy service) and it is up to the Twitterers to protect their credibility.  I can’t imagine a Twitterer who pitches nothing but payola tweets would get very popular.  I think it will all work out.  The market is a stern mistress and cannot be fooled.