Part of every twitter user’s problem with the network is the barrage of links posted to their timelines, everyday, from blogs and brands. Twitter gave a solution: the mute feature.
But it is safe to assume that Twitter’s big pitch to brands to convince them to take out ads and sponsored posts on the site went something like: “Let your brand’s message reach its target consumers at the exact moment it needs to.”
So what happens if the target audience ceases to be the target? While there has always been a likelihood of that in marketing, it is even more so on Twitter now, since the mute feature has been released to users. Twitter has reversed the rules. The power now lies with the users who can now mute “twitter noise makers” without having to unfollow or block them and run the risk of offending a friend, or even a brand.
While that is very useful for individuals, it does have the latency to hurt brands that market on twitter whose major reason for being on the site is the promise of their sponsored tweets reaching everyone following their accounts.
This could become a problem for the entire Twitter Marketing Model, in the long run. Most of these companies are buying ads on Twitter so if you follow a brand and mute them, the company will have your follow, but you won’t see their promoted tweets; it could give a wrong idea of what a brand’s reach actually is. If enough people mute a brand’s ads, this would lead to lower engagement, thus leading to lower conversion rates; for twitter, this might result in the companies pulling their ads.
But if you’re tired of brands ads generally, you could just hop on over to Vine. I kid. They are there too.
