Twitter Forces Ads Upon Mobile App Users

Like it or not, mobile ads are coming if they haven't already, and once they get here they're here to stay. Such is evidenced by Twitter, which just updated its mobile ad platform to increase the amount of sponsored content you'll see while browsing what your friends and favorite celebrities and companies are talking about. It's not meant to be an inundation, but rather a targeted and relevant ad stream.

In an official announcement, Twitter explained, or should we say spun, the news as such: "Initially, a small number of users may see Promoted Tweets near the top of their timelines from brands they already follow. Initially, a small number of users may see Promoted Tweets near the top of their timelines from brands they already follow." The site emphasized that this is no more ad content than already exists on the dekstop version of Twitter.com.

In continuing its explanation of the new ad structure, Twitter said, "This will help ensure that people see important Tweets from the brands they care about." This update comes just as Facebook is working on new ways to monetize its mobile apps, which are currently blissfully not interrupted by a lot of ad content. Expect that to change, especially now that Facebook is becoming a public company and the most important thing will always be the shareholders' bottom line.