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Postup.com: Sorting Through the Noise of Social Networks
by By Merle
Internet Articles
Published on this site: October 11th, 2010 - See
more articles from this month
Long before there was Google Adwords it was Overture, and before
pay-per-click search engine marketing was even born, there was
a website called Goto.com. If you've been marketing
products/services online for more than 10 years, you might
remember that Goto.com was the original and one of a kind
when it came to bidding on keywords and ranking for them
in search results.
Fast forward to today, and the same man responsible for Goto,
Bill Gross, the team at Idealab and other investors, are
attempting to repeat that success with the invention of
Postup.com.
A concept very similar to Google Adwords, but this time for
Twitter and other social networking platforms. When first
launched,
they were called Tweetup and were only for Twitter, but they've
since changed the name and included other social networks like
Facebook and LinkedIn.
It is a self service bid-based marketplace that runs on a
patent-pending platform. At the time of this writing, it's only
available to those in the U.S., but eventually plans to go
international.
The concept is simple really. You sign up, bid on keywords and
your posts will appear in Postup's sponsored results when a
search is done for that phrase. They'll also appear on a number
of particular sites and other Twitter third party apps, such as
Twitterfeed and Tweetdeck. Partners also include Answers.com,
Seesmic, Popurls, TechCrunch and more. They've also recently
purchased Twitdroid, a Twitter app for Android phones.
With the help of multiple distribution channels, Postup's search
results will be widespread and viewed by millions. This is a
great way to not only display sponsored posts, but also grow
your base of Twitter followers and "friends" all at the same
time.
To sign up, you'll need a credit card, although initially it
won't be charged as all bids are set to "0" by default. Unless
you decide to place a bid, they'll remain that way. An email
is sent that must be confirmed to complete the account
activation process. Right now it's based on CPM, cost per
impression, but that may change down the road into cost per
click.
At the time of this writing, Postup is still collecting stats
and bids, but they are live on a limited number of partner
sites. Right now, search results are organically optimized,
but in the future bidding will open on keywords and you'll
have access to an account page to edit settings and bid on
keywords. Many factors are used to determine relevance such
as how much is re-tweeted, popularity of posts and more. They
also give users what is called "Authority Ranking" based on
the topic they mostly post about. The best posts will go
to the top of search results.
You'll also want to make sure your social network bios are
up to date and reflect your areas of expertise, as it's
used by Postup's search function to help establish the
quality of your postings and ranking.
Third party Twitter clients and websites who partner with
Postup to display their sponsored posts do receive a cut
of the ad revenue. There are four formats to choose from.
- PostUp API- For apps and clients
- PostUp Twidget- For Content Pages
- PostUp Search Field- Search without leaving your site
- PostUp Sign-Up Widgets
As you can see, for Postup to be a success, they need to
have a multitude of distribution and partner sites. They've
been hard at work getting all of their "ducks in a row".
As everyone knows, Twitter has launched their own "Promoted
Tweets" program which now puts Postup as a direct competitor.
Twitter has also announced they will not allow third party
networks to place ads in their timelines. Twitter users are able
to,
just not third parties. According to Twitter, they made this
decision to preserve the integrity of the user experience.
Twitter's chief operating officer stated:
"We will not allow any 3rd parties to inject paid ads into
a timeline on any service that leverages the Twitter API."
So how will these new rules affect Postup, if at all? Well,
third party apps can still run next to and around Twitter
feeds, even next to Twitter search results, but they must
be separate. This does put Twitter in control of who's
running ads in their timeline, and they can block the API
access of anyone not playing by their new rules.
According to Postup's Blog they state they do comply with
Twitter's new terms of service. For more, see their blog at http://blog.postup.com.
So for now it looks as if Postup has found a way to
work with Twitter's new rules. It's going to be interesting
to see how it all plays out. This may also explain why
they've decided to branch out into other social networks,
and not put all of their eggs in one "Twitter basket."
The Internet is often compared to the Old West Gold
Rush days, and in some ways maybe it is. Goto.com was
a brilliant concept back in the day, and it's possible
that by taking the popularity of Twitter and other
social networks, and merging it with sponsored ads,
gold may be struck twice. I for one can't wait to
find out.
For more information see: http://www.PostUp.com or
follow them on Twitter at http://www.Twitter.com/PostUp.
By Merle: Merle's Mission Blog- "Rants, Raves and Random Acts
of Kindness" a self proclaimed "Internet Junkie" with a
passion for net marketing, affiliate marketing, social
networking. An avid Blogger and writer with several
niche sites to her credit. Find out more at http://merlesworld.blogspot.com/ Follow me on
Twitter http://twitter.com/msmerle.
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