Twitter launches ad initiative

Twitter, the micro-blogging site, has launched a new application that will pay users for display ads on their profiles. Users will be paid according to how many hours the ad is kept on their homepage.

The platform, which has been developed on Twitter’s open platform, will allow users to post blogs inviting advertisers to buy their profile stating the duration and fee they wish to charge. A company can then make a proposal in response, and Twittad will take 5% of the price as a service fee.

Twittad chief executive, James Eliason, explains: “The Twitter user posts the amount for the entire advertising period. Every hour that ad is served they get a portion of the amount in their “virtual account” set up by TwittAd.

“Once the ad is done serving, after that month, the money is transferred into their real account. If the Twitter user removes the ad before the advertisers time expires, then he or she doesn’t receive 100% of that money, and the advertiser gets a credit via PayPal.”