Twitter to launch search-related ads

Posted by Leah McBride Mensching on March 2, 2010 at 5:23 PM

Google last month took a page from Twitter's playbook, testing its trending topics concept and launching Google Buzz. Now it's Twitter's turn. All Things Digital's Peter Kafka reveals that Twitter's new ad platform looks a lot like Google's.

Although plans are still in the works, it is expected that ads will be linked to Twitter searches, and will also use Twitter's format. The micro-blogging service will work with ad buyers and agencies at first, with the aim to grow into the self-service model like Google, according to Kafka.

Sky News, meanwhile, reported that the ads will be delivered according to users' "feeds and needs." The search-related model is enabled by deep packet inspection, which scans searches for keywords, and then delivers keyword-related ads.

This move makes people feel "creeped out," Simon Davies of Privacy International told Sky. "It can only be based on mutual consent. Without it there is a perception of unwarranted surveillance which can destroy a company's reputation."

Twitter's current advertising model consists of untargeted ads that show up at the top right of users' homepages.