Twitter’s no longer a niche micro-blogging service for tech geeks: it’s now a public company with investors to consider as well as its millions of users, and that means increased monetization. As well as dabbling in click-to-call functionality and e-commerce deals, the platform is also experimenting with 15 new types of in-stream adverts, according to the Wall Street Journal.
That doesn’t necessarily mean that you’ll be seeing more ads in your feed, but the ads that do appear will make it easier for companies to promote their wares. One format already being beta tested lets you quickly download and install a smartphone app with a single tap, for example. It’s a strategy that’s worked for Facebook, and now Twitter wants to follow suit.
Like the promoted tweets that already pepper user timelines, the new adverts will be discreet and in-keeping with the Twitter card style — some of the ad types allow one-click sharing of user details (such as email addresses), should you want to sign up for a deal straight away. The sources who spoke to the WSJ say that the new advertising formats were shown off by Twitter CEO Dick Costolo and other executives at a meeting last week.
The new products are clearly designed to woo game developers and e-commerce companies as Twitter looks to turn itself into a profitable platform and stop its share price slide — stock in the company is down around 33 percent so far this year. According to the WSJ, you’ll be seeing the new ad formats within the next few weeks.
