Tag Archives: sponsored tweets

Photo-A-Day

Ted Murphy Turns 33

10 Comments
Ted Murphy Turns 33
Photo-A-Day #1580

Ted Murphy, CEO of IZEA turned 33 today He asked that people give him photos of themselves with their tongues out. I was only happy too oblige.

Ted takes a lot of crap, apparently from his dog too. But today is the guy’s birthday and people not only came out to celebrate his birthday but to fire barbs at him with regards to his latest venture, Sponsored Tweets. However, today there was a very good article, written in a balanced manner too, by FastCompany. It was titled “IZEA Calls for Transparency, but Can Twitter Remain Pure?“. What I don’t understand is that there are all these programs out there to increase your twitter followers as quickly as possible, companies that pay people to tweet and disclose nothing and yet IZEA catches crap. IZEA is out there publicly telling people that they are paying people to tweet. Publicly disclosing each tweet and manually accepting each advertiser.

I’ve done sponsored tweets through SocialSpark as well as with Sponsored Tweets and before Sponsored Tweets was announced there weren’t that many people causing such a huge uproar about it. Sponsored Tweets have been happening for a while now and only IZEA is the only one disclosing. So why is IZEA the whipping boy? Why aren’t people screaming from the rafters that if any of their followers use another service that they will unfollow them? Why IZEA. Why the haters? Why tear down and be destructive? I can’t figure it out.

Ted, you’ve got to be part duck for all the stuff that you’ve got to let roll off your back. Have a happy birthday man!

Disclosure – I am an IZEA Insider. I’ve been working with them since 2006. Ted Murphy and I have hung out before. I believe in his message and his sincerity.

Blogging

IZEA Insider: First Look at Sponsored Tweets

13 Comments

No doubt you have been hearing about Sponsored Tweets all over Twitter. Danny Brown event ponders whether this is the future of Twitter. Maybe it’s just me who is because I stalk Ted Murphy and anything said about him and IZEA using TweetDeck. I kid, not about the stalking, I’ve seen talk of Sponsored Tweets everywhere. It kicked off big time about a month ago when the story came out well before the site was ready and before anyone was using the service. Since that time I’ve had the privilege of being one of the first people to use Sponsored Tweets.

As with PayPerPost v4.0 (link is #spon) it is a really stripped down stream lined process. Tweeters sign in to Sponsored Tweets and they are authenticated by Oauth so you don’t need to leave your twitter ID and password.

When a Tweeter sets up their account they have a few choices to make.

What will they charge per tweet or per click. Will you write your own Twitter or will the advertiser? How do I wanted to be notified, via e-mail or a DM on Twitter. And what type of content will I tweet content suitable for Everyone, for Mature Audiences or Adult. I’m not thrilled with the adult option on this or PayPerPost v4.0. The Tweeter must also choose their category and provide some keywords to help advertisers pick the correct people for their messages. The screen looks like this.

stweets

So you can see that the interface is pretty simple and it should be. You want to be able to go in, update your information and see what opportunities you have available. This now brings us to the second tab and that is the Opportunities tab. This is where you see the opportunities that advertisers have for you. You can see what ones are being offered, which ones are pending and the ones that you have completed. I completed two opportunities from advertiser IZEA.

stweets2

Now, I don’t know the exact date when this is going to be available to the general public but it is going to be soon so you want to be ready. To make sure that you know as soon as the doors open you need to sign up at http://app.sponsoredtweets.com.