Most people who use the Internet on a regular basis have at least heard of Twitter. The company’s blue bird logo is pasted on many popular web sites by companies hoping to gain followers.
But for all the media hype and all the millions of people sending tweets — and despite early efforts to monetize the micro-blogging service — Twitter has yet to become an advertising phenom. But the site is making progress.
According to a report from eMarketer, Twitter ad revenues are set to soar this year. eMarketer expects advertisers to spend $150 million on the service in 2011. (The report on eMarketer’s site had 396 retweets at the time this article was written.)
Convincing Marketers
The Pew Internet and American Life Project found last November that just eight percent of online Americans used Twitter. Nevertheless, eMarketer is cautiously optimistic about Twitter’s fledgling ad products.
EMarketer expects most of the $150 million in ad revenue to come from U.S. marketers. It may not be much, but it’s a dramatic climb from the $45 million Twitter raked in during 2010. Twitter rolled out advertising products for the first time in 2010.
By 2012, eMarketer expects Twitter revenues to reach $250 million.
“If Twitter can grow its user base and convince marketers of its value as a go-to secondary player to Facebook, it will succeed in gaining revenue,” said Debra Aho Williamson, eMarketer principal analyst. “In 2011 it must work overtime to give its early advertisers a positive experience.”
Twitter’s Destiny
Clearly, Twitter can’t compete against Facebook and Google on advertising, but is it possible for Twitter to find a viable strategy for ads that makes it a respectable third option? Brad Shimmin, a principal analyst at Current Analysis, thinks a better comparison might be against a vendor like Skype, which has recently moved to embrace advertising.
“Twitter…