The advertising delusion

So, Twitter is going to launch an advertising solution, because…

People are constantly “talking and engaging with brands, sharing their feedback” [...] “What if brands start to participate?”. He added that the company will make it “explicitly clear that a sponsor” paid for the ad, and make it “relevant and useful, so the user doesn’t think of it as an ad”.

Now, how many times is this whole thing wrong and screwed? People talk about brands and share their feedback, and companies should jump in with… ads? Was somebody complaining about there not being enough ads? Really? And the ads will be clearly marked as such, and yet so useful that the users won’t think of them as ads (?).

Now, listen up, Mr. Marketer. If people are talking about your company and your products, the only way to participate in the conversation is to talk back. To let people in your company freely talk back about your products and services and their problems and what you can do about that. Any other “solution” will do more harm than good.

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