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.” (More Twitter stories.)