Over the past couple of years, Twitter has become a popular way for celebrities to catch up with their fans. Now, it is also a way for them to make a little extra cash.
Various celebrities are making money by posting “sponsored tweets.” Companies write out tweets and send them to the celebrities for approval. To keep an authentic tone, they pick and choose which products and companies they want to promote, and only tweet those.
Rumor has it that Perez Hilton makes a couple thousand for every sponsored tweet. Rapper Soulja Boy and Kim Kardashian are said to receive ten grand per tweet.
Websites such as ad.ly connect celebrities to advertisers, such as Sony and Microsoft. MyLikes has a similar concept; it allows users to publish one sponsored tweet per day, paying 20 to 80 cents for every click on the ad link.
Many celebrities are choosing to stay far away from sponsored tweets, worrying those posts will pollute their feed and objectivity will be lost. For this reason, sponsored tweets must carry an ad disclosure.
Twitter plans on launching its own advertising this year, further changing the way ads are delivered.