At 11:38 p.m. tonight, sandwiched inconspicuously between a GAO story and a piece about Sen. Grassley’s relationship with the Iowans he represents (check that one out too!), The Washington Post slipped this in its @postpolitics Twitter feed:
Featured Advertiser http://twurl.nl/dkvg01
With the same link shortener as it uses for its WaPo articles, the above link, as you can see for yourself, directs readers to a non-Post site that pays to advertise with The Washington Post.
This is not the first time the Post’s Twitter feed has included such a tweet, but it only irregularly does so. This seems like quite a development. This is not selling ad space in their paper or on their Web site. This is placing direct links to non-Post companies in my Twitter stream under the Post banner in a way that, really, could be seen as a strangely headlined article if a reader is confused — and regardless, is not so clearly distinguished from articles as ads are in the paper or on the Web site.
Maybe others, like Jeff Jarvis or Jay Rosen, have discussed this already, but I think it’s not quite right.
[UPDATE: Thanks to Jay for the link this morning on Twitter. Also, I'd direct folks to this piece in the Boston Phoenix addressing a different, but similar, issue at The New York Times.]
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Chris Geidner is a lawyer in Washington, D.C., who writes at Law Dork, contributes regularly to Metro Weekly and has written for The Atlantic Online, Advocate.com, Salon and other publications. An extended biography can be found
Isn’t that breaking Twitter’s TOS?
How?
Nothing new in trying to slip in ads that look like copy. The Post may be watering down their content in a way that doesn’t help the advertiser at all.
Love to know what they are charging and what the click rate is.
My take on all this: Uh oh, there’s an ad in my Twitter feed.
I do think that “Featured Advertiser,” if you don’t know that they include ads in their stream, could be confused for a news story on said topic. At least much more so than the “fake news copy” ads that find their way into the paper.
that’s a great point. those of us in the biz probably would assume separation of church and state, but a civilian reader might think “featured” implies sanctioned, supported, or something more than Paid Advertisement.
I have seen links like that from MSNBC as well. From the Morning Joe ‘corporate’ tweet, not JS or MB personal accounts.
Thanks for noting that. Don’t follow them, so hadn’t seen it.