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Twitter wants to turn your ‘fan tweets’ into ads, report says

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While poor services and products may well incur the wrath of Twitter users via disparaging and snarky tweets, you can also find plenty of positive posts praising businesses when they get something right.

Keen to focus on these commendations and compliments rather than the negative stuff, Twitter is reportedly building a system for marketers that’ll enable them to use your tweet of endorsement as part of an ad campaign on the microblogging service.

The system would provide a simple way for advertisers to find positive tweets about their products that they could then use as part of an organized marketing campaign, according to digital media outlet Digiday.

An unnamed ad agency executive with knowledge of the plan said Twitter gave marketers a sneak peek at the new ad system during last week’s CES event in Las Vegas.

To make it happen, the social media giant is apparently working on building a database full of positive tweets by regular users about particular products. Companies will be able to easily search the tweets and pick out the best for inclusion in what Twitter is reportedly calling a “brand enthusiast gallery.” The gallery would feature a standard ad from the advertiser, followed by a carousel of gushing praise from regular Twitter users that a reader can swipe through.

So does that mean the brand can simply take your tweets without asking? Certainly not. Let’s say you tweet something nice about a service you recently used, or a product you bought and enjoyed – the company won’t be able to simply grab your message and stick it in its marketing campaign. It’ll need your permission first.

For that, Twitter will send you a direct message on behalf of the marketer asking whether you’d mind if it used your tweet as part of an ad campaign on the social media service.

The suggestion is that using positive comments from everyday users of Twitter – rather than paid-for praise posted by celebrities – will prove more effective for brands looking for positive reactions to campaigns, as well as more options when planning ad strategies.

The rumored service is also another way for Twitter to offer compelling ad products for brands keen to draw together positive conversations on Twitter related to their business, and should also please investors eager to see the social media company continue innovating and expanding its ad offerings.

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