First Advertising Spot Appears on Twitter

By Lindsay Moore

June 16, 2010

Social networking site Twitter is now rolling out paid advertising spots in its popular micro-blogging platform.

Disney/Pixar became the first advertiser on Twitter to pay for a “trending topic” to promote its newest film Toy Story 3.

How does it work? Clicking on the Toy Story 3 link automatically searches for the topic. At the top of the search results, the latest tweet from Disney/Pixar appears. Other tweets below the “promoted” tweet remain unedited.

You can expect to see tweets from others promoting products and services soon, including Starbucks and electronics retailer Best Buy. According to Twitter, this is the first phase, which will help to assess user experience and advertising value. Tweets that do not resonate with the user community will be removed.