Twitter Quietly (Finally) Launches Self-Serve Ads

Still a small test. But if Twitter’s ad biz is ever going to get big, this will be an important step.
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Bill Simmons Knows How to Fix Twitter

A new role for ESPN’s star multi-hyphenate: Product guy.
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Is There a Myspace Mafia, Too? Because Leaving Seems to Have Paid Off for Many Ex-Execs.

When the selling of Myspace winds down in the next week or so, it’ll probably attract a spate of comments about what a failure the whole social networking enterprise turned out to be. That is, unless you think of the mob of former execs who have worked at the company over time, many of whom have moved on to some more golden opportunities after leaving Myspace.
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On Twitter, “The Real Housewives Of New Jersey” Trumps “Modern Family.” Why?

Twitter loves TV. And TV loves Twitter. But the relationship between the two is a funky one: Sometimes Twitter gets excited about TV shows that lots of people don’t care about. And sometimes TV’s most popular shows aren’t nearly as popular on the social messaging service.
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27,000 Reasons Why Twitter Is Rolling Out Its Own Photo Service

This photo of an almost-empty baseball game became a hit overnight on Twitter–and made money for Twitter photo-sharing service TwitPic. What if Twitter sold that ad inventory itself?
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Group Looks to Team Tech Executives With Nonprofits

Could the Silicon Valley management style help charitable organizations? An organization called Palindrome Advisors thinks so, and it launched a program Wednesday that aims to match executives in technology and other industries with nonprofits that need their help.

Twitter Ads Move Forward by Carving Up The Globe

Nearly a year after launching its first ad product, Twitter beta tests geo-targeting–a crucial component for any Web marketing business.

Yahoo Marketing VP Shane Steele Joins Twitter

Shane Steele, previously VP of global marketing for Yahoo, started at Twitter today as director of sales marketing.

Howard Stern and Twitter Just Made Me Watch "Private Parts" Again

Is that the future of TV? Twitter’s ad guys would like to think so.

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A First Guess at Twitter Ad Results: How About $150 Million for 2011?

Twitter’s ad business is still in the just-getting-started phase, but eMarketer thinks that will still be a nine-figure business: It predicts Adam Bain and crew will sell $150 million worth of promoted tweets, promoted trends, etc., this year. Next year, spurred in part by a Google/Facebook-like self-serve ad system: $250 million. “But the company must show it can live up to its hype.” Noted!

Here's a Promoted Tweet Survey From TWTRCON