Twitter Boosts Profile of Promoted Trends Ad

To increase visibility for its advertisers, Twitter has moved its Promoted Trending Topic ad placement from the bottom of its trending topic list to the top. Though subtle, the change could help boost click-through rates for advertisers, since promoted trends are now positioned closer to the top of the page, and imply greater significance of the topic itself.

When asked if the move was driven by advertiser demand, a Twitter spokesperson told ClickZ, "The placement has moved," and added, "It's an extremely young product and we have always said we would experiment with it."

Twitter rolled out its promoted trends ad format in July, enabling advertisers to pay to have their product or service included in Twitter's trending topic list. Since launch, those promoted topics have appeared at the bottom of the list, distinguishing them somewhat from the most popular organic topics.

As of today, however, those promoted topics will appear at the top of the list, and although clearly labeled as "promoted," their new position could be seen to imply promoted topics are also the most popular organic topics. In reference to that issue, the Twitter spokesperson said, "Our careful experimentation around our promoted products is geared to determine how to ensure the best user experience."

Speaking at the IAB's Mixx conference in New York this week, the company's COO Dick Costolo said the company was continuing to experiment with its ad formats, but that it felt it had "cracked the code on a new form of advertising." He added that it intends to open up ad trials to over a hundred brands by the end of 2010, and to launch a self-service ad platform for smaller advertisers in 2011.