[ http://tier10lab.com/2013/04/23/twitter-facebook-exploring-additional-ad-revenue-opportunities/ ] Between Twitter's preparations for a possible IPO and Facebook's changes in anticipation of its updated news feed, it's not surprising to hear that both social media giants are exploring new and different options for advertising revenue.

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Twitter, Facebook Exploring Different Avenues
for Additional Ad Revenue
http://tier10lab.com/2013/04/23/twitter-facebook-exploring-additional-ad-revenue-opportunities/
April 23, 2013
By Xavier Villarmarzo
Between Twitter’s preparations for a possible IPO and Facebook’s changes in anticipation of its updated
news feed, it’s not surprising to hear that both social media giants are exploring new and different options
for advertising revenue.
Facebook has added a tap-to-call feature in its recent mobile redesign. When visiting a business or brand
page, users have the option to call the business straight from the Facebook mobile app. Much like how
Google has implemented the feature for searches on a mobile device, Facebook is looking to capitalize
on that success. According to a report in Adweek, the tap-to-call feature has helped propel Google to
dominate 55 percent of the net mobile ad market this year.
While the tap-to-call feature, which allows users to call a business simply by tapping an ad or displayed
phone number, seems like a useful feature for Facebook, it probably won’t be used as often as the social
media company hopes. The majority of Google’s tap-to-call uses come from users searching for a
business. Since Facebook mobile users don’t typically search for businesses on the platform, the
company’s best bet may be to promote ads for specials – whether from restaurants, dentists or even car
dealerships – that encourage users to “tap-to-call” for an appointment or reservation.

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As for Twitter, the 140-characters-or-less platform is also looking to channel Google with keyword ad
targeting. The company recently announced the added ability to help brands target promoted tweets
based on key words in a tweet. So, if a user tweets about needing an oil change, a promoted tweet from
Jiffy Lube may make its way on the user’s timeline.
The interesting part about Twitter’s endeavor is that the keyword targeting can be used alongside the
tools the platform already uses, such as geolocation. So a local business would be able to target users
within a certain location with a promoted tweet. The best part is that Twitter will also filter out negative
tweets, so an ad doesn’t appear on someone bashing a specific business or product, which would agitate
users.
All in all, this can be a very useful avenue for Twitter and advertisers alike. The ability to target specific
users based on their “desires” (according to what they’re tweeting about) can be a big hit with consumers.
That aforementioned person needing an oil change will be more inclined to check out a promoted tweet if
it’s going to help them. The risk lies in whether this feature will annoy users, as it does with all advertising.
However, Twitter has shown it has very good quality control when it comes to its advertising. After all,
users can still dismiss irrelevant promoted tweets. If they keep it up, this could be a very popular feature
on the platform.
In fact, since both Twitter and Facebook took pages of “inspiration” from Google, it’s very possible that
both companies can end up with similar advertising features – i.e. Facebook with keyword targeting and
Twitter with tap-to-call capabilities.
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