by Michelle Lentz

Locally, I followed @Cincinnati_News on Twitter. I’m not sure who runs it (neither is anyone else it seems). The web site on the profile is the City of Cincinnati site and the tweet sources information from several local news stations and the local newspaper. Of course, the bio also says “a great place to live, work, and play” and then sources all the bad news, so I’m not sure how great an advertisement it is anyway.

Now, this particular Twitter account has always had a small problem with tweeting in annoyingly huge chunks. But it was something to which we all adjusted, as it was a good source of news. But last week, someone made the decision to add Magpie tweets.

What’s Magpie? As the tagline says, “convert your tweets into bling-bling.” Sign up and monetize your tweets (and irritate your followers). Advertisers give a tweet to magpie, who looks at its members. It finds members that would be interested in this tweet and sends it out. It shows up in the timeline of the person who signed up. Of course, if you’re subscribed to that person, you see it too. In their FAQs, Magpie actually says “So keep your followers happy and don’t risk annoying them with too many magpie-tweets.”

When Magpie first debuted, it was a big question. Will people unfollow someone because they use it? Well, in Cincinnati at least, that answer is yes. We don’t want advertising – and annoyances – in our Twitter feed. The solution is peaceful protest of course – simply unfollowing.

You can see some of the reactions here and in the screenshot below. @Cincinnati_news followers were not happy that their timelines had been co-opted for advertising.

Would you unfollow someone using Magpie? I did. I always say that readers – of your tweets or of your blog – are smart. They don’t mind occasional self-promotion. We all do it. But turn your feed into an obvious ad and people are going to walk away. You’re not the only one out there with the information, and they want your opinion, not your obvious zeal for monetizing. No one is going to judge you for monetizing things, just be subtle about it.

UPDATE: It looks like all the commotion was a little much for @Cincinnati_News. They’ve taken down their Twitter account.
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