Brands pay Twitter to falsely appear in your following list
(Gigaom):
https://gigaom.com/2014/12/30/brands-pay-twitter-to-falsely-appear-in-your-following-list/
Sources familiar with the company's advertising strategy tell me
this has been occurring since early 2013, but the public has only
just now cottoned onto it thanks to actor William Shatner (of Star
Trek fame). Shatner brought attention to it after he saw that
"MasterCard" appeared in his following list despite the fact that
he didn't follow it. He did a little investigation and discovered
that the same promoted account appeared on Dwayne Johnson's
follower list, looking a little out of place given "The Rock" only
followed one other account.
- - -
For the record, I massively cut back my use of Twitter when ads
started appearing in my Tweet stream. I don't have a problem with ads
to the side of the content I want in a context like this, but actually
*in* the Tweet stream -- as if they were from Twitter users I actually
followed -- is just too much. I no longer actively monitor Twitter at
all, and I only occasionally send out items I think are of particular
note. I really enjoyed using Twitter before this slide began, and I still
wish them the best.
--Lauren--
Lauren Weinstein ([email protected]): http://www.vortex.com/lauren
Founder:
- Network Neutrality Squad: http://www.nnsquad.org
- PRIVACY Forum: http://www.vortex.com/privacy-info
Co-Founder: People For Internet Responsibility: http://www.pfir.org/pfir-info
Member: ACM Committee on Computers and Public Policy
I am a consultant to Google -- I speak only for myself, not for them.
Lauren's Blog: http://lauren.vortex.com
Google+: http://google.com/+LaurenWeinstein
Twitter: http://twitter.com/laurenweinstein
Tel: +1 (818) 225-2800 / Skype: vortex.com
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