The price of my soul? $33.82 a month, apparently.

As someone who works in advertising and marketing, I sometimes wonder if I should be a bit more understanding of schemes that let people lease out every square inch of their lives to the corporate world.

But there's just something undeniably off-putting about things like Magpie, a new service that lets you sell ads on your Twitter feed.

The amount you're paid is determined by the number of people who follow you  on the micro-blogging site.

(As you can see, I qualify for up to 26.70 Euros a month, or $33.82 in Earthling dollars.)

I'm sure there are people jumping to take advantage of this and scrape in a few extra bucks. (As ReadWriteWeb points out, you can also sell ads on your Twitter background.) And hey, if it helps them stave off foreclosure or keep the lights on in this economy, more power to 'em.

But come on, marketing folks, this is why cool kids don't invite us to their parties. This is why people think a new technology is only worthwhile until the creepy, windowless white van pulls up and the advertising guys get out with handfuls of candy.

Want to make money on Twitter? No problem. Start an official account or two for your business and use them in ways that customers or potential customers will find helpful. Communicate, share, have a contest, show off your human side. Do it right, and you'll increase customer loyalty while driving up sales.

Oh well, I suppose this is all a victimless crime for now. I wouldn't sell ads on my feed, buy ads on a feed or follow someone who put ads in their feed.

Maybe I'm just playing hardball and holding out for a better offer than $34 a month (rounded up to make me feel better about myself).

Comments

[ditchell]

I think they are not realizing how oh so very quickly people will drop your twitter when you start "suggesting" they go try the new cargo shorts at Old Navy.

[Dave Allen]

Advertisers *must* wait until they are invited in.

Nike gets it right here - Nike Sportswear: A Cross the Universe - http://www.social-cache.com/2008/10/justice-a-cross-the-universe-for-nike-sportswear It's a collaboration, a partnership.

And DJ Spooky understands social media better than any social media pundit - DJ Spooky and the End of Social Media - http://www.social-cache.com/2008/10/dj-spooky-and-the-end-of-social-media

[Cory O'Brien]

Love the white van analogy, because that's exactly what it felt like! Twitter was so clean and so pure, and then Magpie showed up and ruined all the fun. Thankfully the community self-corrected rather quickly, but it's unfortunately probably just the sign of things to come. Together though, perhaps we can actually manage to keep Twitter the pure and simple service that we all want it to be.

http://thefutureofads.com/2008/11/03/magpie-tries-to-make-twitter-an-ad-network-fails/

[Rebecca Cullers]

I have no false beliefs in purity, but don't see how this would be effective.

[Andrea Hill]

I can make up to ~708/month.. which I admit does make me consider giving it a try.. you know, just for the sake of the experiment.. (I do believe they need to be more transparent as to how much you earn per tweet)

[Lucretia Pruitt]

I love the white van image.

It's kind of sad that with the lure of a fistful of dollars, people are willing to sell out their network to lazy advertisers who are unwilling or unable to take the time to actually join in Social Media marketing in a genuine way.

Great post!