More than two years ago word spread of a new type of ad unit. It was called Hosted Conversations, a creation of Edelman and Newsgator. I’ve periodically checked back on the concept and to my disappointment, it seems to have fizzled. The subsequent silence was deafening.
Then, yesterday, it was announced that Google was going forward with a similar ad unit. It would contain the advertiser’s five most recent “tweets” from Twitter. The first client is Intuit, the maker of TurboTax. These @turbotax ads would be distributed throughout the Google AdSense ad network, where the ads (i.e., short list of tweets) would appear on web pages within the network that are deemed relevant.
I’ve been writing a lot about Twitter lately. Far more than I should. It can be a distraction from more relevant and proven marketing tactics and media. However, it’s important to note that as Twitter becomes part of our cultural zeitgeist, this variety of micro-blogging becomes easier for marketers and consumers to understand. And with understanding comes adoption.
What I’m getting at is this:
If it what killed Hosted Conversations was a failure to grasp the concept, then we can attribute the success of Google’s new ad unit to that scrappy, 140-character micro-blogging platform whose name I am frankly sick of invoking.
Thanks for at least that, Twitter. Now would you please stop distracting my clients?