Social Media and Monetization
There has been some talk recently about the monetization of Twitter streams. Some of the Twitter divas would like to capitalize on their large pool of followers by selling ads on their Twitter streams. I’m disappointed. Why does everything have to monetized? We spend time with our kids without billing someone. We read books or watch TV or walk through the woods without getting paid. And, hey, we have lunch with our friends without trying to sell them things (at least most of us do). Why is it ok to force ads on people who have chosen to connect with you in an online space?
Ads on blogs are one thing. Your blog is your house. You can decorate it any way you choose. Twitter is like a phone call and I don’t respond well to telemarketers.
Social Media is all about relationships. Yes, many of them might lead to sales or business contacts, but would you sell your contact list to someone? Not if you value those contacts. Please, folks, don’t sell your followers and friends to the highest bidder!
2 Comments
Sarah, Goon Squad Sarah
I am neither agreeing or disagreeing with you right now, I haven’t had enough time to process the idea of monetizing a twitter stream.
That being said – what about your Facebook page? That is social media and there are ads on that… except you don’t make a penny. I am fairly new to Facebook, but I wish I was making a cut off of those ads.
With the twitter thing – would the ad be part of your 140 characters?
Christy
The Magpie ads are separate tweets that go out to your followers. My Facebook page has ads which help support the Facebook service. Since it’s free, it doesn’t bother me at all. Plus, I’m not sending them out to friends. I wouldn’t have a problem with Twitter incorporating ads to pay for the service. I DO have an issue with people I’m following using me (and my twitter stream) to make money. The ads clutter up my timeline and make it harder to follow conversations. It’s like having a friend send telemarketing phone calls your way so they can make extra money.
Someone mentioned incorporating something where it’s a double opt-in process. I could sign up to send ads and/or receive them and would make money on both ends. That seems ideal.
There is something else that bothers me though… it’s the idea that you have to put a price tag on everything. It’s like people who see a large stretch of open space and feel compelled to build something on it. But that’s a very personal pet peeve of mine. =}