What Would Pinocchio Tweet?

March 24, 2009 at 6:22 am PT

Twitter may not have figured out a way to turn a profit yet, but that hasn’t stopped its users from monetizing the site.

Sponsored tweets are becoming more popular. Brands are recruiting well-known Twitterers to spread the word about a specific product or service. For example, Marcelo Tas, a Brazilian television personality, signed a deal with Telefonica (TAR) to help pitch its new Internet and phone service.

But marketers aren’t just looking for celebrities with hundreds of thousands of followers. They are also going after Web personalities with a more targeted following.

Enter Melanie Notkin, the 40-year-old New York entrepreneur behind the site SavvyAuntie.com. She has built a community of what she calls PANKs (Professional Aunt, No Kids). She offers advice on things like gifts an aunt could buy her niece or nephew.

Read the rest of this post

Tagged with: celebrities, digital, Digits, Elizabeth Holmes, frontpage, Internet, Marcelo Tas, Melanie Notkin, New York, No Kids, PANKs, phone, Professional Aunts, SavvyAuntie.com, software, telecom, Telefonica, The Wall Street Journal, tweets, Twitter, Web

comments so far. Add yours.

Must-Reads from other Web sites

“You Get On The Internet And Pretty Soon You’re Drunk”: The Orthodox At Citi Field

Sean Patrick Cooper, Contributor, The Awl

Meet the tireless entrepreneur who squatted at AOL

Daniel Terdiman, Senior writer, CNET

Mark Zuckerberg’s unpleasant new life

Felix Salmon, Finance blogger, Reuters

Anyone can do it. Data journalism is the new punk

Simon Rogers, News editor, the Guardian

Fashion World Mulls Facebook IPO’s Impact

Rachel Strugatz, Editor, Women’s Wear Daily

The Unabomber’s Pen Pal

Jeffrey R. Young, Senior editor, Chronicle of Higher Education

About Voices

Along with original content and posts from across the Dow Jones network, this section of AllThingsD includes Must-Reads From Other Web Sites — pieces we’ve read, discussions we’ve followed, stuff we like. Six posts from external sites are included here each weekday, but we only run the headlines. We link to the original sites for the rest. These posts are explicitly labeled, so it’s clear that the content comes from other Web sites, and for clarity’s sake, all outside posts run against a pink background.

We also solicit original full-length posts and accept some unsolicited submissions.

Voices is edited by Beth Callaghan.