Ads will show every couple of Twitter comments
This news actually comes to us from a Tweet. Bruce Falck, the revenue product lead for Twitter, just came out to say that the company is currently testing this out. It’s actually a global test, and it’s only visible on the Android and iOS apps. Right now, most people might not see the ads right away because the company only selected a certain amount of users for this test. When you open the comments for a tweet, Twitter will show ads as you scroll down. Falck said that the ads will show after the first, third, or eighth comments, so you won’t have to scroll down far to see an ad. They may continue to display if the conversation has a ton of comments. Subsequent comments from Falck obviously attempt to spin this as a benefit for advertisers and creators. “We’re excited about trying this out for our advertisers…” “…it could open the door for additional opportunities to reward Tweet authors and creators.”
How are people reacting to this? Just as you’d expect!
The reception for these ads has been negative, as anyone would imagine. Looking through the comments on just that tweet, we see a resounding hiss from other users. Most users are calling this a bad idea and a distraction. Others expressed that it wouldn’t be so bad if there was an “opt-out” or “Hide ad” option. One other user said that if they’re not being paid to have the ads displayed, then they’re not interested. In all honesty, if a user has enough traction and can get a cut of the ad revenue, some people might actually consider having ads on their Twitter comments. Right now, only time will tell if this will actually stay. Twitter knows that it will be facing opposition for this, and it seems like the company will take it.
In other Twitter news: Twitter now lets you remove followers without blocking
Sometimes, blocking another person just seems too harsh, so Twitter has a solution. Twitter now gives people the ability to remove followers rather than blocking them altogether; maybe you don’t want someone to see your content, but you still want to interact with theirs. Whatever the reason, Twitter started testing this feature out back in September, and it apparently gained enough traction. It’s expected to roll out to mobile platforms in the coming weeks.
