Cash for Tweets: Range Rover signs up Paid Tweeters

Range Rover has signed up more than 40 global “trendsetters” to tweet about their forthcoming city 4x4. The idea came from an ad agency who are anxious to point out that “no one has been paid to tweet”. However, the lucky trendsetters did get a free loan, and in some cases were given, a Range Rover.

The tweeters aren’t therefore commenting for the sake of it – they’ve effectively entered into a contract to promote a product. This isn’t illegal in the UK, though it is in the US. There, celebrities must declare if they’ve benefitted from endorsing brands, with the words “ad” or “spon” appearing alongside their message.

Businesses can also legally employ the services of companies like Webtraffic 2010 who will buy “fans” or “likes” on Facebook. According to Private Eye (see issues 1275 and 1276) the price is quoted at “under 1,000 fans, it costs 10 cents, over 5,000 fans it’s 30 cents per fan only”. Usocial.net will sell Twitter followers, with 100,000 costing $3,749.

As firms increasingly turning to social media to promote their brands, we perhaps shouldn’t be surprised that this form of media is being rapidly commercialised.