Twitter and Spam Look to Part Ways

Do you hate spam? Do you hate Twitter spam in particular? Had it with spam? Well, Twitter feels your pain. I get almost teary eyed thinking about their concern for our well being in the Twitterverse. Here’s their blog post to let you know they are thinking of you.

Folks can now help us conquer spam by calling our attention to a profile they find questionable. Click the “Report as spam” button under the Actions section of a profile’s sidebar and our Trust and Safety team will check it out to see what needs to be done. No automated action will be taken as a result of reporting a user as spam (in other words, it can’t be used to incite an angry mob against an account you don’t like.) And once you report a profile it will automatically be blocked from following or replying to you. You nailed it!

All kidding aside, this is a nice step taken by Twitter to combat an issue that many feel is getting out of hand at a very rapid pace. Of course, this is also a necessary step because the last thing Twitter needs is to be more noise than information (especially if you are speaking to some pretty big names about your feeds).

So join Twitter in making the regal Land of Tweets clean of spam. Consider this your way to make Twitter “Go green” by ridding itself of excess stuff. If nothing else you will have contributed to the betterment of your corner of the social media world.

Twitter Gets Real Ads

Back in March, Twitter gave us all a head-fake when they started posting “sponsored definitions,” definitions in a the sidebar of Twitter homepages that looked like ads. Twitter was quick to correct the assumption that they were, in fact, ads—they were only definitions, just like you get free from dictionaries.

Then, the boxes began carrying info on Twitter apps. Rather than paying for their placement, the featured apps were actually approached by Twitter. The apps being advertised didn’t pay to get there, so despite the fact that they were still called “sponsored definitions,” they weren’t ads. Nope, no way, nuh uh.

Well, now they are, apparently. Read Write Web reports that two of the “sponsored definitions,” for Cinema Tweets and the infamous ExecTweets, are really ads this time.

As RWW notes, these ads appear only on your Twitter homepage when you’re signed in, not on other Twitter users’ pages. However, since this ad format has been used since March, it’s possible that Tweeple will either a.) completely ignore the ads, just like the did the previous definitions, or b.) not realize these are ads, despite the “sponsored” marking (though we’ve seen that before ).

What do you think? Are these really ads, or are they just more of the same? Will Twitter users click on ads unwittingly, ignore them completely, or somewhere in between?

Pilgrim’s Partners: SponsoredReviews.com – Bloggers earn cash, Advertisers build buzz!

YouTube Videos Getting Off-Site Overlay Links

Although the latest planned feature for YouTube looks like an ad, for once YouTube’s rolling out something somewhat noteworthy that’s not part of its continue search for revenues. The feature? Overlays, like InVideo ads, that feature off-site links.

As TechCrunch reports, “you probably thought it was already out there.” But to-date, YouTube hasn’t allowed any links embedded in its videos other than a.) ads or b.) links to other YouTube videos. If you needed to link to your website, blog, Twitter profile, etc., you had to do it in the right-hand sidebar, where it would be largely ignored.

YouTube ran a similar promotion in March for charity:water. This video from the organization features the overlay:

The move is unique in that this is the first non-advertising off-site links YouTube has allowed. However, the program will only be open to YouTube’s advertisers participating in the CPC Promoted Videos program. TechCrunch says the program is launching today.

What do you think? Will this result in more people leaving YouTube—or more people signing up as Promoted Video advertisers?

Stronger than Twitter, Faster than Facebook: Product Reviews as a Marketing Tool

As a marketer, which of these would you find more useful?

Tweet: @sumbuddy dont buy the BrandCo table it sux–hasnt stood up at all

or

On site review: (2 stars) For what we paid for this table, my husband and I expected something more durable. The wood dents way too easily for a kids’ table. We expected a lot more from BrandCo.

While both product reviews are negative, the on-site review giving a client’s product two stars might make us cringe a bit more than a single Tweet (even if the Tweet was as specific as the other review). But the on-site review might also be the better marketing tool, at least according to Ad Age today.

Ad Age contends that product reviews are more useful to companies and marketers than the oft-touted media sweethearts of social media: Twitter, Facebook, YouTube (the triumvirate of YouTwitFace), and the like.

The big difference between those on-site reviews and the other feedback (aside from the fact that the rest of the feedback is spread throughout the Internet instead of right at the point of purchase)?

And while Twitter conversation and Facebook chatter is interesting and important, it’s not structured, and can be difficult for marketers to implement into their processes. Review data, on the other hand, address a particular product — and when a consumer is in the mode to talk about it.

People do tend to be more specific in on-site reviews. And while site owners can just make negative reviews go away, that doesn’t mean they should. In fact, the Ad Age article gives specific examples of companies that took negative reviews to heart, examined the criticized product and actually worked to improve it.

The Ad Age article has a sidebar with five techniques to use reviews right:

• Embrace the feedback—”Both the positive and negative feedback provides hints to what you’re doing well and where improvement is needed.”
• Figure out who needs to know—Have someone who can react and fix product problems to read the low-rated reviews
• Tout customers’ favorites—positive product reviews “can make great ad copy.”
• Incorporate customer service—Let customer service reps know about potential product problems or complaints in reviews
• Don’t stop there—If your customers really enjoy talking about your products, develop a larger community. Oriental Trading Co., for example, “asks users to help solve each others’ problems and share their stories.”

We’ve discussed the same phenomenon with five ways negative reviews could actually help your online reputation. Andy’s fifth reason take the use of negative reviews to another level:

Learn from competitors’ mistakes. Don’t just read your negative reviews, read those of your competitors. If you learn where your rivals keep slipping-up, you can fine-tune your offering to make sure you don’t make the same mistake. Better still, how about reaching out to an unhappy customer of one of your competitors and fixing their problem—you could win a new customer for life!

What other ways can negative reviews lead to a better product or help companies?