Twitter Apes Google's Ad Model

Twitter’s finally ready to unveil its ad service, and it’s going to look a heck of a lot like Google’s. Sources tell Peter Kafka of All Things Digital that Twitter intends to allow companies to place ads using a self-serve program, and that they’ll show up in search results, much like Google ads.

The Twitter ads will all be formatted like tweets, including the 140-character cap. Third-party services that use Twitter’s API will have the option of displaying the ads; if they do, Twitter will give them a cut of the profit. The plans aren’t final, and it’s unclear when the scheme will launch, but Kafka calls the first half of this year “a very safe bet.”