Today Twitter announced that, "soon, small businesses based in the United States will have the chance to take their Twitter marketing efforts to a new level. Starting in late March, we will introduce a new advertising offering that makes it simple for companies of any size to grow their businesses using our Promoted Tweets and Promoted Accounts products."
Social media is about making connections with those who want to make connections. It about receiving permission from the viewer to interact. As soon as you force your way into someones Twitter feed you are no longer being social. We talked about this last year when I noticed a tree company whom I didn't follow, showing up in my feed. If I had wanted to follow them, I would have "followed" them. "Promoted Tweets" are a companies way of saying, "you don't know who to follow, so we are going to elbow our way into your life."
Here is a great post titled, "Is Your Business Antisocial?". Brian Solis say's, "when we take a step back to examine many of the leading business examples in social media, it’s clear that many are in actuality, illustrations of traditional marketing masquerading as genuine engagement." Promoted Tweets are just more traditional advertising, not social media.
What will happen with Twitter when it's filled with promotions for stuff you never wanted to receive? Will another platform arise that offers users an "ad free" experience? I guess we will find out.