California based social network, Twitter has been valued at over 1bn but so far has no way of earning revenue. However, they have recently introduced a plan for ‘promoted tweets’. The move is in a bid claw at some of the 1bn of its estimated value as it so far does not make any money. Since 2006, Twitter have managed to resist the call of traditional advertising, claiming they are looking to build value before profit.

Recently launched was the eagerly awaited ‘promoted tweets’, a marketing opportunity that Twitter co-founder Biz Stone describes as “ordinary tweets that businesses and organisations want to highlight to a wider group of users”.

In order to avoid spam or the downfall of twitter, the executives maintain the tweets “resonate with users” meaning that if users don’t retweet it or reply to it, it gets deleted. Twitter hopes this rule will control the relevance of promoted tweets. At first they will appear at the top of relevant searches but a second development will see them integrated into the feeds of individual users.

There are thousands of companies that have made successful use of twitter but a handful of large international firms have really created ROI. Starbucks has primarily used Twitter as a promotional tool but also a platform for customer service. It has been hugely successful in promoting customer interaction and relationships with the brand.

Starbucks fell under huge criticism several years ago when it had become to overpopulate the high streets and be seen to want to run a ‘coffee-monopoly’. Its increasing prices and faceless branding had a damaging effect on its public image. Using twitter has allowed the company to be more personal with their customers and the new promoted tweets should allow them to target their promotions at relevant consumers with high conversion rate.

Many experts have already predicted that a successful use of the promoted tweets would see companies like Starbucks offer discounts and promotions to users who retweet their messages, thus making use of the word-of-mouth effect that currently exists on Twitter.

Starbucks have also begun to offer discount to customer who bring their own mugs rather than using disposable cups in a bid to tackle their environmental impact.