BBJ reports today that Twitter has changed its policy to allow advertising. It's understandable - surprisingly the Internets has an actual cost (!) but also game-changing. Okay we're all aware (a) that ad tweets are highly annoying; and (b) marketers need to follow the current (and proposed) FTC guidelines for endorsements and testimonials when hyping--ahem--discussing products and services. But now there is a new consideration.
The presence of advertising on Twitter converts the website where your tweets appear from editorial to commercial. That conversion casts a commercial light on the messages you tweet. The commercial effect means that parodying celebrities, criticizing brand owners, twitterature, and linking to other websites will cause those so tweeting to climb a steeper slope to prove fair use. Think twice before you use someone else's brand, name, prose, or news story.
Although some brand owners show that they are starting to "get" the important crowd sourcing and grassrooting roles that apps like Twitter provide, many others do not. Some of the great accounts may disappear. That's disappointing since many of the parody and brand criticism tweets like my personal fave, UnPeter Angelos, have an important role in giving readers uncontrollable belly laughs or providing important unfiltered info to consumers.
