Twitter is set to announce a new for-fee service on Tuesday at the IAB MIXX conference in New York City, promoted Who to Follow suggestions. In an exclusive report, AllThingsD reported that Twitter will sell promoted spots in its Who to Follow recommendations based on the same algorithms the firm uses for the Who to Follow recommendations you can get right now.
In other words, the scheme would, in theory, suggest only those kinds of Twitter accounts you might actually be interested in. For instance, if you tweet about sports, you might find an NBA or NFL-related Twitter account in your recommendations. If you rave about the awesomeness of The Jonas Brothers, you might find find another Disney property like JGirlsMusic in your recommendations.
Twitter has exploded in popularity, and the company has been trying quite hard to find ways to monetize its success. For instance, it already has Promoted Trends and Promoted Tweets. Promoted followers would join the existing paid-for services, if AllThingsD’s unnamed sources are correct.
If the new service takes off with advertisers and is palatable to users, it will no doubt be music to the company’s ears.
