In addition to the Tweeter purge we are also making some adjustments to create higher quality offers for the remaining Tweeters. We will soon be increasing the minimum cost per click for advertisers. Advertisers with existing offers at a lower price will be grandfathered in.

- Deposit $1,000 via credit card and get a $300 Bonus!
- Deposit $10,000 via credit card and get a $3,000 Bonus!

To claim your bonus or for more information please contact Pete Scott, VP Business Development at 321-332-6830 x136  or 407-963-1649(cell).

Ryan Staver from Twitter’s API team made this comment:

“I want to make sure this part is clear — this policy change isn’t meant to say that we are going to start policing if the content of something a user tweets is an ad or not. The policy change affects 3rd party services that were putting ads in the middle of a timeline.

So if Liz is paid by Reebok to tweet about how much she loves their new shoes, we are not going to be policing that any more than we were on Friday. This policy also *does not prohibit* services - ( like Ad.ly and SponsoredTweets) - and that help facilitate those relationships or even help her post the ads to her timeline on her behalf.

It *does prohibit* an application from calling out to a service to find an ad to serve to Liz that will get inserted into the timeline she is viewing.

The language is somewhat nuanced but it sounds like we might need to make the policy more explicit as a number of people are misinterpreting it.”

What does this mean?

This means we will not have to change to a more manual process as I originally stated. I think this is a great move on Twitter’s part as it helps us maintain more control over the quality of the posts and makes disclosure enforcement more consistent.

While the process of doing a sponsored tweet is not going to change we are still embarking on a major curation process. We <3 the Twitter ecosystem and want to do our part to keep it as clean as possible.

Twitter has made a number of refinements to their advertising policy for 3rd parties like Sponosored Tweets over the past year. We have adjusted along with them, doing our best to comply with Twitter’s best practices.

You Own Your Tweets

Twitter maintains that they don’t seek to control what a user tweets. They also state that you own your tweets. There are no rules prohibiting people sharing sponsored or commercial messages, they just don’t want it automated through an API.

You can still tweet about our sponsors. You can still promote your employer. You can still drive traffic to your blog. You can still share amazon affiliate links. You can still use your account to tweet out deals. You still have freedom to do what you like with your Twitter account, so long as you aren’t a spammer.

So What Does This Mean?

No more direct publishing.

We are going to make some changes to the way Sponsored Tweets works. We will no longer be publishing directly to your account through the Twitter API. Instead you will have to write the tweet yourself in whatever Twitter client you see fit.

Yes, it will be a more manual process. Yes, we liked the old way better too. But we want to comply with Twitters guidelines and be a good ecosystem partner. We have always made adjustments to our system to remain in compliance. Twitter has allotted 30 days to make this change, we will try to get it out as soon as we can. Until then it is business as usual.

Curation.

In addition to the direct publishing change we are going to start curating our list more carefully with human account reviews and more automated tools. Most of you guys are solid tweeters, but there are also some people trying to take advantage of the system. These people will not be able to participate in future campaigns.

Our goal remains to provide you the best sponsored tweets platform out there. We will continue to refine our platform as the landscape changes.

You have been busting your tail. You are overworked and under appreciated. You need to blow off some steam and we want to help! If you sign up for our monthly bonus program now through March 15th at a level of $2,500 or more we will send you two tickets from anywhere in the U.S. to Las Vegas! Sign up for our $5,000 a month program and we will also put you and a friend up for 3 days at The Hard Rock Hotel & Casino, send you to see a Cirque du Soleil show and treat you to dinner at STACK Las Vegas.

Vegas + Bonus Dollars!

Not only are we sending you to Vegas, we are also going to hook you up with a sweet monthly bonus. Earn a $2,635 bonus for a $5,000 a month spend! Monthly spends can be allocated to any IZEA property including Sponsored Tweets, SocialSpark, Sponzai, PayPerPost and IPL. You can switch money between platforms at any time.

• Minimum commitment of three months.
• Advertiser billed monthly via credit card.
• Unconsumed dollars roll from month to month. No wasted spend!
• Advertiser can cancel at any time after their contract term with 30 days notice.

Call Pete at 1.866.514.1680 x136 to claim your trip.

You can also drop him an email at pete@izea.com.

• Bonus dollars have no cash value.
• Vegas offer for new bonus program signups only.
• No refunds on monthly bonus programs. Minimum program term 3 months.
• Coach air fair. Valid for travel in the U.S. only.
• Trip must be booked at least 21 days in advance.

Click Forensics software will more accurately discard repeat clicks, bots, click farms and other methods that can be utilized to inflate click counts. While Sponsored Tweets does not charge on a CPC basis at this time it is important to us to provide advertisers with the most reliable data as possible.

We have had a number of people request a contest that rewards based on the quality, not volume of people that they refer. For all those people we now have a contest just for you. Now through the end of the month if you refer a person with a lot of followers you may just win $1,000 for you and $1,000 for the person you referred!

Have a good friend who is a celeb, rock star, or twitter personality? Now is the time to get them signed up! Not only will both of you make more money… you could win $1,000 each just for being well followed!

The Challenge

1. Click the Retweet button at the top of this page.

2. Use your referral link inside SponsoredTweets to sign up new Tweeters to the system. You can use the standard tweet, display ads or get creative and make something new. If you are a developer you may use the SponsoredTweets API.

• The challenge starts today and ends February 28th, 2010.
• The person who refers the one individual tweeter with the most followers during the contest period will win $1,000 for themselves and $1,000 for the person that they refer.
• Referrals prior to today do not count. Everybody starts fresh!
• Valid to U.S. Residents 18 years of age and older only. Void where prohibited by law.
• Do not use Twitter bot spamming (or any spamming for that matter) to drive registrations. Doing so will make you ineligible, you will be reported to Twitter and your SponsoredTweets account will be suspended.

You can view the official rules here.

Helpful Hint

Use your “possible referees” tab to see people that follow you that have lots of followers. The people under thist tab have not signed up for Sponsored Tweets yet.

Eligibility: No purchase is necessary to enter or claim prize. Top Tweeter Challenge (the “Contest”) is open to anyone who (i) is a legal U.S. resident, and (ii) is at least eighteen (18) years of age. Employees of IZEA, Inc. (“Sponsor”), and their respective parent companies, subsidiaries, affiliates, suppliers, advertising agencies, and the families and persons living in the same household as such employees, are not eligible to participate. The Contest is subject to all federal, state, and local laws. Void where prohibited or restricted by law or regulations.

How To Enter:

(1) Click the ReTweet button at the top of Top Tweeter page.

(2) Use your referral link or API to sign up new Sponsored Tweets users under your account. Referral Twitter accounts must be over 120 days old by contest end in order to be considered valid. The Contest begins at 6:00 p.m. Eastern Standard Time (“EST”) on February 8, 2009 and ends at 11:59 p.m. EST on February 28, 2010 (the “Contest Period”).

Selection Of Winners: At the end of the Contest Period one (1) entrant will be selected by the Sponsor based on the having referred the one (1) Tweeter with the most individual followers during the contest. The odds of winning depend upon the number of people participating.

The winner will be notified by email on or about three (3) days after the applicable weekly entry period ends. The decisions of the Sponsor are final and binding on all matters relating to the Contest. All winners will be required to sign and return to Sponsor an affidavit of eligibility and liability/publicity release within fourteen (14) days of the date of winning notification; otherwise the prize will be forfeited, and a new winner will be randomly selected.

Prizes (1): Winner will receive $1,000.00 for themselves and $1,000.00 for the person they referred who helped them win the contest.

Total ARV of all prizes: $2,000.00

All federal, state, and local taxes, and all other expenses not expressly listed above are the sole responsibility of the winners.

Release of Liability: By participating, you release Sponsor and their subsidiaries, affiliates, partners, employees, directors, agents, advertising agencies, and all other associated with the development and execution of this Contest, from any and against any and all injury, loss or damage caused or claimed to be caused by your participation in the Contest and/or the acceptance, awarding, receipt, use and/or misuse of the prize, and you agree that these entities are in no matter responsible for any warranty, representation, or guarantee, expressed or implied, in fact or in law, relating to the Contest and/or the awarding of any prize. Notwithstanding the foregoing, in the event that the preceding release is determined by a court of competent jurisdiction to be invalid or void for any reason, entrant agrees that, by entering the Contest, (i) any and all disputes, claims, and causes of action arising out of or in connection with the Contest, or any prizes awarded, shall be resolved individually without resort to any form of class action; (ii) any claims, judgments and awards shall be limited to actual out-of-pocket costs incurred, including costs associated with entering the Contest, but in no event attorney’s fees; and (iii) under no circumstances will any entrant be permitted to obtain any award for, and entrant hereby waives all rights to claim, punitive, incidental or consequential damages and any and all rights to have damages multiplied or otherwise increased and any other damages, other than damages for actual out-of-pocket expenses.

Additional Rules: Entrant agrees to hold harmless Sponsor, its officers, directors, employees, divisions, affiliates, subsidiaries, advertising and promotional agencies, from any claim by any third party relating to any rights. By participating in the Contest, entrant agrees to be bound by these Official Rules, including all eligibility requirements and all decisions of Sponsor, which are final and binding in all matters relating to the Contest. Sponsor is not responsible for: (i) lost, late, misdirected, damaged, garbled or illegible entries/registrations; (ii) error, omission, interruption, deletion, defect, delay in operations or transmission, theft or destruction or unauthorized access to or alterations of entry/registration materials, or for technical, network, telephone equipment, electronic, computer, hardware or software malfunctions of any kind, or inaccurate transmission of or failure to receive entry information by Sponsor on account of technical problems or traffic congestion on the Internet or at any web site or any combination thereof; or (iii) any injury or damage to entrant’s or any other person’s computer related to or resulting from participating in the Contest. Sponsor reserves the right to: (i) permanently disqualify from any contest it sponsors any person it believes has intentionally violated these official rules; and (ii) suspend, modify or terminate the Contest if Sponsor believes, in its sole discretion, that malfunction, error, disruption or damage is impairing or will impair the administration, security, fairness, integrity of the Contest. If Contest is terminated before the end date, Sponsor will determine the winner from all eligible entries received as of the termination date. Sponsor reserves the right to disqualify any unauthorized entries, including, without limitation, multiple entries from the same person. Entering the Contest constitutes permission to use the name, voice, photo, and likeness of the winner for advertising and publicity purposes, without further compensation.

LEGAL WARNING: ANY ATTEMPT BY AN INDIVIDUAL, WHETHER OR NOT AN ENTRANT, TO DELIBERATELY DAMAGE, DESTROY, TAMPER OR VANDALIZE THIS WEB SITE OR INTERFERE WITH THE OPERATION OF THE CONTEST, IS A VIOLATION OF CRIMINAL AND CIVIL LAWS AND SPONSOR RESERVES THE RIGHT TO SEEK DAMAGES AND DILIGENTLY PURSUE ALL REMEDIES AGAINST ANY SUCH INDIVIDUAL TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW.

Winner’s Name: For names of winners, please send a self-addressed stamped envelope, (postage not required for Vermont residents) to: 150 N. Orange Avenue, Suite 412, Orlando, Florida 32801.

This extension was designed as part of the $7500 Sponsored Tweet Holiday API Challenge. Big ups to @dascgo for putting it together.