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28.1.2011 Twitter ad strategy reaps rewards

eMarketer has predicted strong ad sales for Twitter this year, with the micro-blogging site's ad revenues expected to treble to $150m. According to the research firm, US sales will predominate, and will be responsible for $140m of this year's total, along with $25m of the $250m forecast for 2012.  In 2010, Twitter's total ad revenues were just $45m.
The revenue growth has come mainly due to the success of Twitter's promoted tweets system, through which advertisers pay to have tweets appear on trending topics lists and on top of search results. According to latest figures, Twitter's global user base exceeds 175m.

Facebook, the world's largest social media platform, has over 500m, and eMarketer said the site generated ad revenue of $1.86bn for 2010. Debra Aho Williamson, eMarketer's principal analyst, said: "If Twitter can grow its user base and convince marketers of its value as a go-to secondary player to Facebook, it will succeed in gaining revenue. "In 2011 it must work overtime to give its early advertisers a positive experience."

B.L. 28.1.2011