Twitter Advertising on Facebook? No Thanks
Have you signed up for Sponsored Tweets on Twitter? Or Magpie? Or TweetROI? Do you offer sponsored posts and paid reviews on your blog? If so, you might have to re-think how you share this information, thanks to a Terms of Service update from Facebook.
Why does a Facebook update affect you if you’re on Twitter, or writing on your blog? Think of your Status Update box. Many users of both Facebook and Twitter have their accounts synced, so when you post on Twitter it goes to your status box (or main feed). The same for blog posts – a lot of bloggers auto-update their Facebook status with their latest post.
Now, however, if that tweet or post includes an advertisement from the likes of Sponsored Tweets, or a paid review from a company like IZEA and other paid blogging services, Facebook would be in their rights to see that as part of their “unauthorized commercial communications”. This could, in return, see your Facebook account closed or deleted.
Of course, the easy thing to do would be for IZEA and other companies to talk to Facebook. Or, for people to stop syncing accounts and blogs (Twitter updates is something a lot of “just Facebook users” have already complained about). The question is, will people want to change their current set-up?
What’s your take? Do you sync accounts? Will this make you change or will you keep posting regardless? Or should advertising companies be the ones taking the proactive approach to work to a solution?
28 Responses to “Twitter Advertising on Facebook? No Thanks”
I really don't understand FB one day they are opening things up and everyone is aghast that this will be the killer that brings Twitter to it's knee's the next shutting out business LOL
Part of me wonders if this is a direct “attack” on Twitter, Roger. The less the integration, the more people may choose one over the other?
Too gray of a TOS update. Really vague and could potentially allow for status updates, besides Spon Tweets and Spon conversations, to be classified as commercial.
If I post to social media as part of my job, is that commercial? Technically I'm getting paid for posting.
If I'm a consultant and I'm talking about social media in hopes of attracting new clients, is that commercial? Technically, I'm using Facebook to build business relationships.
I don't think that's who they're going after with this update, Jeremy. It's where you're clearly advertising without using Facebook's advertising models. People talk about their jobs, that's natural – but it's when you start saying “I ate Cereal X today and it was delicious” because you've been paid to that could cause the issue.
I agree that it could be more specific, but maybe it's a cover-all approach that Facebook is going for. Besides, any ads or sponsorship that you might tweet, blog or even place on your Facebook account should already be disclosed by the person, no?
I hate seeing the #fb tagged Tweets and vice versa. All they do is tell me that the author is trying to spread content too thin and maximize imprints for the least amount of effort.
I use Facebook a little, and I use Twitter a lot. I don't, however, sync them. Because I suspect that would be really annoying to see 100 updates a day from someone on Facebook…
I sync my tweets and facebook. Unfortunately if I'm forced to choose I'll take Twitter over FB. Honestly most people I know on FB are on Twitter too.
Although not explicitly stated, I'm assuming that someone like Starbucks has a right to post a commercial update on their FAN page, correct? Although I'm sure users protect Facebook's stance against spam, another ulterior motive is that Facebook doesn't want to be put in a position of carrying ads for which it is not remunerated.
I have not, and most likely, will not sync the two. The 140 character max is something I don't have to deal with in Fb, so my posting are structured differently. Also, I tend to find Twitter posting on Fb kind of annoying, so I won't do that to my friends. They are two separate animals and should be treated that way.
Fan pages are exempt (from my understanding) because they're set up as a complete opt-in process; you have to sign up to their page to receive updates. So, in essence, you're signing up to ads and an email list if that's how a company or individual decides to use their fan page.
When it comes to advertising, this becomes a mix-feeling between syncing the 2 accounts. I have yet signed up for any sponsored tweets etc and not planning to for the time being. Please no, I really dislike seeing more unnecessary info on already crowded networking site.
Good look at the change Danny, many have not connected those dots yet
Great pic and re-design too!