Magpie is a noisy bird

A new Twitter-based advertising service called Magpie was recently launched, giving Twitter users the opportunity to earn money in return for allowing adverts to be posted in their Twitter stream between updates.

So if someone you follow has signed up to Magpie, these ads will appear in your timeline, under their username, but prefaced with the tag “#magpie”. A typical ad looks like this:

kerry_anne: #magpie Custom map pendants, pins & magnets + Scrabble letter gifts + Soldered art pendants http://XOHandworks.etsy.com

Interest in Magpie picked up after Mashable posted about it on Friday morning, and since then it’s been creating a bit of a stir around the world. I posted the following tweet after I’d read about it, summing up my initial reaction:

So Magpie has to be the coolest idea I’ve heard in a while: poorly targeted advertising to an unwilling audience. Yeah baby, sign me up!

(Yes. That was sarcasm. Just in case you weren’t entirely sure.)

In fact, I think Magpie is a TERRIBLE idea, and here’s why.

Magpie shows a basic misunderstanding of Twitter’s position and purpose.
Twitter is a place for real people to say real things and, on occasion, have real conversations. It’s about relationships, not relentless marketing and promotion. Magpie has no relationship with your followers. Twitter is a personal medium, while Magpie is an entirely impersonal service.

It’s highly intrusive.
Twitter, that is. And thus, by extension, Magpie. Most of us aren’t huge fans of television advertising, but I’m sure you’ll agree that television is a whole lot less intrusive as a medium than Twitter. Also, I can fairly reliably predict when the next TV ad will make its appearance and I seldom mistake them for actual programmes, even at first glance, which means I can avoid them almost altogether if I choose. There will naturally be resistance to any advertising that is seen as intrusive and unwanted.

This kind of advertising simply adds to the noise.
Twitter is already problematic in that there is a high noise-to-signal ratio, with plenty of “lazy tweeting” going on; and the constant filtering of irrelevant and uninteresting tweets can get a little exhausting. Introducing advertising into your updates will only exacerbate this problem.

It’s not at all sustainable.
Let’s face it; advertisers would have to be idiots to stick it out. It doesn’t take much brainpower to work out that as people become annoyed with your use of automated ads, so your follower pool will shrink. And for those who choose not to unfollow you, it will only take a few really bad or irrelevant ads to cause them to willingly develop ad blindness. If you’re following more than 100 people on Twitter, then by now you’ve learnt to filter pretty well. Add to this the fact that by necessity these ads will be poorly targeted (follower groups are extremely diverse, particularly for those who have high follower numbers), and really, I think you’ll find that there are better places to blow your advertising budget.

It’s the kind of thing that ultimately makes the world a worse place.
Of course, you might say, “Well, I’m prepared to lose a few followers, because enough people will stay to make the money I earn for doing nothing worthwhile.” And I’d suggest you need to think a little deeper. Consider whether Magpie is going to add value in the long run. Simply put, it won’t. It’s going to make a little bit of extra money for a small group of people. It’s not a needed service. Twitter users are already doing a pretty good job of bringing interesting links, products and services to one another’s attention in a natural, organic way that mirrors our off-line interactions. (Which brings this analogy to mind: would you walk around with little advertising flashcards in your pocket and show them to the people around you after every fifth sentence? Nah, didn’t think so. And why not? Because no one would want to be your friend anymore.)

So, for heaven’s sake, think long-term.
If you see Twitter as a marketing tool (and in truth it is for all of us, in the same way as face-to-face conversation is a marketing tool of sorts) rather focus your time and energy on posting good tweets that are informative, entertaining or thought-provoking, and so build up a network of people who respect you and like you. That way they’ll be a lot more interested in your real money-earning work if and when you want their support or business. Don’t throw away your credibility and half your followers just to earn a few Euros. And if you choose to go ahead with it anyway, at least now you’ll understand when I unfollow you.