Twitter announces advertising tool with targeted tweets

MICRO BLOGGING SERVICE Twitter has announced an advertising tool that will allow companies to target tweets at specific users.

According to Twitter product manager Kevin Weil, advertisers can now tweet at users based on their geographic location or whether they access the service using mobile devices or personal computers.

"Today we're introducing targeted Tweets, an enhancement that enables brands to reach specific audiences on Twitter without first sending a Tweet to all followers," Weil said in a blog post on Thursday.

"Until today, it's been impractical to send these kinds of highly tailored Tweets, since there was no way to reach people in New York without also reaching followers in Norway, Nebraska and Nigeria who can't take advantage of your offer."

Twitter said that the feature also allows global brands that have different launch dates for several countries to send tailored messages at different times, customised for the users in each country.

"Mobile app providers who only want to reach customers on one device can do so without also sending the message to desktop users," Weil said.

Twitter said that it has been testing the tool for several weeks with advertises such as British Airways and Coca Cola. The feature is now available to all advertises globally by using the newly enhanced tweet box at ads.twitter.com. µ