SAN FRANCISCO — Is Twitter the next Google, the next or something in between? It may have begun answering that question Tuesday with its first step into advertising.
The startup is trying to make money without alienating the tens of millions of people who have gotten used to tweeting and following friends, celebrities and others without commercial interruptions. Just as it has through most of its four-year existence, Twitter is treading cautiously.
The new ads, called “promoted tweets,” will pop up only on searches at Twitter’s website, and the messages will be limited to a small group of test marketers, including Virgin America, Best Buy, Sony Pictures and Starbucks. Fewer than 10 percent of Twitter’s users were expected to see the ads Tuesday, but the messages should start appearing on all relevant searches within the next few days.
One promoted tweet from Starbucks was getting retweeted heavily, thanks to its free tax-day offer: “On 4/15 bring in a reusable tumbler and we’ll fill it with brewed coffee for free. Let’s all switch from paper cups.”
The move heralds a turning point for Twitter, which has held off on selling ads even as its widening audience turned it into an obvious marketing magnet and investors poured $155 million into the San Francisco company.
The last cash infusion seven months ago valued privately held Twitter at about $1 billion, even though its only significant revenue had come from giving Google and Microsoft better access to its service. The technology powerhouses paid Twitter an undisclosed amount for that right.
The new advertising system should give a better inkling about whether Twitter will be more like Google or , whose most valuable asset turned out to be a sock puppet.
