Is there much evidence to suggest that actually brings in value and profit though?
People search google for washing machines, then click on an advert, and buy a washing machine. I can see how that works, and makes google lots of money.
But a "promoted tweet", to people who are tweeting gossip, wasting time, etc? There's no intent there. They're not looking for a washing machine, they're wasting time.
What you are describing is direct response advertising.
There is another type of advertising called branding. Budweiser doesn’t spend $25 million per year advertising during the Super Bowl because they expect you to see the advertisement and immediately order a beer at the bar. Instead, Budweiser is trying to tell you a story about their brand to evoke an emotional response that will be stored deep in your amygdala such that every time you go to buy beer in the future you will reflexively choose Budweiser.
Google is better for direct response advertising; Twitter is better for branding.
Yes, that's the point. As people spend more of their time and attention on social media relative to other media, where will those branding budgets go? Not to Google (well, actually, that's why they bought YouTube...but not to Google Search).
Twitter is one of the few outlets where brands can effectively communicate their message online. That's the theory, anyway. You can argue that Twitter is a bad medium for branding but arguing that it's a bad medium for direct response advertising is missing the point.
Watch out guys Twitter is doing something different.
On the web there is far more money in direct response right now because that's the easiest to measure and we have the platforms well ingrained in all our systems.
To say that brand based advertising isn't required or has no place is contrary to everything we know about advertising. You don't see the coke logo 50 times a day for nothing.
Just as people searching for a washer on Google are more likely to click on a washer ad, people looking at the #Astronomer stream are more likely to buy a telescope.
That's not the perfect comparison, but Twitter definitely classifies it's users into ad related categories.
You can classify all you want, but my central point was:
If I'm about to buy a washing machine, I would go search on google. I would not go on twitter and tweet "OMGLOLPOP! Gonna buy a washing machine what does every1 (including advertisers) recommend #confused"
So Google get me at the crucial time I'm about to buy something. Twitter don't.
My brother bought a new dishwasher not long ago. He knew for months that he really needed one, and there was circa 2 years that he wanted one.
For considered purchases, there's generally a long period before a clear intention to purchase where people have some awareness of the need. During that period, they're very open to information on products. If they're at a friend's house, they might say, "Hey, how do you like that dishwasher?" And if they see an ad for a dishwasher, they're more likely to pay attention.
Google does very well once people have decided to search. Twitter will be better for getting them before the conscious decision to take action. And it will also be good for the (often long) period between first Google search and actual purchase.
> If I'm about to buy a washing machine, I would go search on google
Actually we've just bought a washing machine in the past week and Google's ads didn't really have anything to do with it.
Selecting a machine took about three months, a combination of searching for user reviews and information about warranty. None of the Google 'ZOMG BUY NOW' ads were in the slightest bit useful for that.
Once we decided to buy, we noticed that all the ads were for big-name stores that don't have outlets where we live; because Google is basing the results on the address of my ISP, 500 miles away...
Not sure about the value, or how much money it brings in. According to Twitter "Promoted Tweets are ordinary Tweets purchased by advertisers who want to reach a wider group of users or to spark engagement from their existing followers." Advertisers pay Twitter to tweet, Twitter finds a specific group of people to show this tweet to.
To the "intentionality" question. They may be wasting time, but they may also be checking news, looking for weather updates, gossip, gadget news, &c, not to mention keeping up with what their IRL friends are doing. All of which falls under the broad category of intentional.
People search google for washing machines, then click on an advert, and buy a washing machine. I can see how that works, and makes google lots of money.
But a "promoted tweet", to people who are tweeting gossip, wasting time, etc? There's no intent there. They're not looking for a washing machine, they're wasting time.