Advertisers were given a preview of the new ad unit at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas last week, Digiday’s sources claim.
The concept will use what Twitter is calling a “brand enthusiast gallery,” which will hold a directory of brand-related tweets.
Brands will not have free rein over which tweets to use. An ad agency executive with knowledge of the new product said that Twitter will direct message the author of the tweet to ask permission before a brand can use it.
Business Insider contacted Twitter for a statement. The company said that it had “nothing to add at this stage.”
The idea behind the move is that endorsements of products by unpaid, local Twitter users could be more persuasive than those by paid celebrities.
“This gives brands the ability to tweet recommendations from everyday users near you versus a celebrity,” a source told Digiday.
However, the new product does run the risk of irking some consumers who might not be comfortable with users’ tweets being jumped on by advertisers for commercial purposes.
Who is going to be cool with #Twitter/brands using their tweets as ads #UsersFirst
— Kim Townend (@kimlovesstuff) January 11, 2016
One ad agency executive who asked not to be named told Business Insider the new ad format has the potential to be a “total nightmare.”
“I can imagine that 1) it’s a nightmare to administer (both at Twitter’s end, and at the brand end — legals, permissions, etc.) And 2) there’s going to be an influx of brands looking to promote anything and everything positive said about them — which is great for driving revenues for Twitter, but is going to be a challenge for strategic brand management, as brands’ pages will end up looking like those late 90s testimonial pages,” he added.
This article was originally published on Business Insider. Copyright 2016.
