What Do Tweeters Think of Sponsored Tweets?

Izea launched Sponsored Tweet three days ago and the blog and Twittersphere have been a buzzed over it. Some think this is the greatest thing since sliced bread while others are predicting that this is the end of Twitter as we know it.

Personally, I thought Sponsored Tweets was inevitable. Whenever a market gets created, marketers will eventually try to monetize it. And with Twitter growing by millions of users every few days, this is far too big of a market to ignore. I wanted to find out what my followers thought of the new paid per tweet service from IZEA so I sent out a tweet requesting feedback. This is what you had to say about it. Feel free to add your comment to the debate.

@scottfish (Scott Fish) says:
@JohnChow I think its a good idea if you can match up the audience and advertiser – it needs to work like opt-in email.

@radekstangel (Radek Stangel) says:
@JohnChow IMO PayPerTweet has a great future. I don’t see any difference from PayPerPost.

@kpslover007 (Uthman Baksh) says:
@JohnChow I wish I could make money by doing this!

@cambirch (Cam Birch) says:
@JohnChow I like the site, looks rather interesting and profitable should some offers come in.

@Daniel_Lambert (Daniel Lambert) says:
@JohnChow Nice site design, would try it out but getting an error saying it can’t connect to twitter.

@FaisalAnwar (Make Money Online) says:
@JohnChow I think SponsoredTweet is going to be the next biggest advertising media besides google. Its the first time advertising got pe …

@RowanMsmith (Rowan Smith) says:
@JohnChow I hate that every form of media available gets turned into an ad platform until we eventually tune it out (and the original media)

@mikebuechele (Michael Buechele) says:
@JohnChow I think it’s raising a banner for the little guy. If Tiger, Jeter and Peyton get to endorse products so should we. Right WOM.

@birddrop (BirdDrop) says:
@JohnChow Sounds like a good way to get BirdDropped.

@joetech (Joe Tech) says:
@JohnChow I think IZEA hit a home run again. Just waiting for more advertisers so I have more opps.

@jawatkin (Justin Watkins) says:
@JohnChow I think it’s a good reason to unfollow someone…

@crystalsilver (Crystal Silver) says:
@JohnChow I don’t think I’ll be participating. I’m more interested in Twitter for connecting with intriguing people on a meaningful level.

@ErikaMarie (Erika Marie) says:
@JohnChow sponsored tweets seems like a neat idea & I signed up to try it out on @awkwardtales & soon, perhaps @erikamarie.

@ramanujam (Ramanujam) says:
@JohnChow Unless Izea keeps a constant check for Quality, sponsored tweets will become a spam mediator like what PPP is for blogs now

@davekeys (Dave Keys) says:
@JohnChow Isn’t advertising on social media like derivatives? Over-leveraging it can lead to devaluation of the equity – human contribution?

@ThinkTomdotcom (Tom Everitt) says:
@JohnChow I would immediately unfollow ANYONE who tweets what I perceive to be ads. Subtle self promo? Sure. Ads? Nada.

@akhilan (Akhila N. Vysakhan) says:
@JohnChow Falling prey for sponsored tweets is selling or pledging your followers and their loyalty to you for your own financial gain.

@rajasekharan (Rajasekharan N.) says:
@JohnChow Accepting sponsored tweets is like prostituting, losing credibility and betraying your loyal followers. Raj. http://mtherald.com/

@Uhfgood (Keith Weatherby II) says:
@JohnChow Paying people to tweet will simply dilute twitter.

@Uhfgood (Keith Weatherby II) says:
@JohnChow – we have a lot of "advertising" already… news stories and links and what have you…

@allisonr (Allison Reynolds) says:
@JohnChow My thoughts on Sponsored Tweets are in the last paragraph of Confessions Of A Twitter Whore http://is.gd/2498X

@jazzdrive3 (Matt Robison) says:
@JohnChow It was inevitable. And as long as they pay well and are reliable, I say kudos to them.

@wwstewart (Wess Stewart) says:
@johnchow SponsoredTweets could be ok, but that $50 payout sucks for people w/lower follower counts.

@mitchellharper (Mitchell Harper) says:
@JohnChow Also "Ethical Sponsored Tweeting" is an oxymoron so I think like PayPerPost, this idea wont go anywhere fast.

@mitchellharper (Mitchell Harper) says:
@JohnChow It’s OK but I’d rather build an EXCELLENT product that promotes itself instead of paying to promote a mediocre one. Just my 2c.

@hardcoreware (Carl Nelson) says:
@JohnChow If I ever see a sponsored tweet from someone I don’t know personally, they get unfollowed immediately

@BlissfulGirl (Adele Kirwer) says:
@JohnChow tweets aren’t "sticky" enough to give real ROI. they’d have to be brilliantly crafted to ensure click through or re-tweets.

@mikefaber (mike faber) says:
@JohnChow I think their celebrity needs clothes that fit about 2 sizes bigger!

@michaelkwan (Michael Kwan) says:
@JohnChow With the passing stream of tweets, Sponsored Tweets doesn’t seem to offer enough value to the advertiser.

@cherman (Guilherme Cherman) says:
@JohnChow I like the fact that it has disclosure.

@TariqAhmad (Tariq Ahmad) says:
@JohnChow better interaction, better feed back, better products. 2 thumbs up.

@Zombie_Plan (James Clark) says:
@JohnChow looks good if we wanted to filter quality out of twitter.

@Hlieu (H Lieu) says:
@JohnChow have not gotten an offer yet after signing up and got nother mssg from socialspark saying mysite wsnt a blog and it was sign johnc

What are YOUR thoughts? Add them to the comments below and let the debate rage on.