The micro-blogging web phenomenon Twitter now has over 100 million active users across the world, according to its chief executive Dick Costolo – suggesting its popularity shows no signs of fading any time soon.
Costolo also told Reuters that the social network was looking to build upon its successes by broadening the scope of where it allows advertisers to place content. “We now feel that based on the engagement rates we’re seeing [...] that we’re ready to expand this further” he explained, adding: “It’s our firm belief that our advertising platform is the only revenue component that we need to have in the market in order to be a huge independent business.”
When asked about the challenges Twitter faces from the recently launched Google+ social network, Costolo said he was confident there was room for both of them in the world, adding that each offered something very different for users. However, he admitted it was likely that their rival would “pull in a massive number of users” – mainly in the way it works as an integrated add-on to the world’s most popular search engine.
Twitter began making advertising space available in 2010 but has been cautious not to upset its users by overdoing it. Could its CEO’s comments suggest this is about to change?
MEC View: There’s no doubt about it, Twitter has gone from strength-to-strength over the last few years and its popularity looks set to continue. As a marketing tool, it is a fantastic way for people and businesses to get their message out to millions of people all over the world and create new marketing opportunities – provided they know how to properly use it and don’t fall foul of the common mistakes we have seen some make in the past.
It will be interesting to see how Twitter integrates ads further into its business model, especially as it has traditionally relied on very gentle forms of advertising with things like sponsored tweets and paid-for trending topics. However, it’s important to remember that while Twitter might become a more interesting option for buying media space, it is already a valuable tool for engaging with customers and monitoring campaign sentiment.
