Advertising is all about getting information about a company/product/service in front of a demographically appropriate audience to tease them into spending money on said product/service.
When everyone used to spend most of their time in front of a live broadcast television, television ads were used to convey a product/service to general consumers. Then the internet and Tivo hit; destroying the Television ad market. Internet ads are all but useless now as well (Google will one day have to own up to the click-fraud reality that underpins its financials). So, I'm left adrift in a free-market economy without a way for advertisers to reach me. Bummer.
Twitter is changing this. The companies/products/services I care about have figured out how to get to me, via Twitter.
Twitter provides a broadcast system system that smart businesses are using to reach out to relevant people. I don't have to waste time consuming ads I don't care about. Instead I get to selectively choose which businesses I want to hear from when some new product/service/discount/sale becomes available. Finally, the consumer is in control, and the advertiser doesn't have to mess with subscription lists (email/snail-mail/phone numbers) to reach me. All I have to do is "follow"/listen to the "channels" I want, and if I end up not liking the company doing the advertising, I can turn them off.
Feels darn close to a perfect advertisement communication system to me.
For example, local companies I "follow" who tell me about real-time services they provide are listed below. They get advertisements in-front of me, when I want them, and I make real-time purchasing decisions as a result.
- https://twitter.com/TeeandCakes (just bought doughnuts from there because they tweeted that they had arrived)
- http://twitter.com/twospoonssoups (not eating there today because the soup I love isn't avail today)
- http://twitter.com/spudbros
- http://twitter.com/larkburger (they're not in my daily walk/flow, but now I get good reminders of them and can decide to head over there when in the mood)
More advertisements via Twitter/broadcast please.
