(Image source: Vator)

BY IRIS ZHANG

You're watching multisource news analysis from Newsy.com.

There’s one more player in the 2012 presidential campaign. Its name? Twitter.
Here’s Fox News with more.

 

“Twitter has started to sell political ads to some of the major candidates running for president. Mitt Romney is one of the first candidates to buy what are called Promoted Tweets.”

Promoted trends, promoted accounts, and now promoted tweets. It’s the third ad product Twitter has offered. According to Business Insider, it’s likely to be the “most powerful” one.

“Promoted Tweets appear...on top of search results...on top of a user’s twitter timeline...and in the timelines of users who are NOT following the brand’s account...Twitter believes putting Promoted Tweets in users’ timelines will be its big moneymaker.”

But don’t worry about political ads clogging up your timeline just yet. A tech reporter for Politico tells MSNBC the program is still in its cradle.

“We're only at a point, right now, only 6 or 7 different entities or individuals can even use these political ads because it’s just a pilot program...(Flash) So we are not going to see hundreds and hundreds of campaign advertisements like you would see on television for instance.”

And as The New York Times reports, Twitter faces already established competitors in the online political ads market.

“Candidates have already been spending to single out potential voters searching Google and YouTube. ... Starting in August, Facebook began rolling out zip code targeting, which allows advertisers to concentrate ads and sponsored stories based on users’ zip codes.”

Still, figures from the Los Angeles Times show Twitter’s capacity for politics.

“Twitter is a hub for politicos. According to a spokesman, 85 U.S. senators, more than 360 members of the House of Representatives, 42 governors and more than 35 world leaders are on Twitter.”

But a contributor for tech website VatorNews has doubts about politicians’ ability to make good use of the online platform.

“Twitter’s huge impact on political careers and outcomes is undeniable ... However, much training in Twitter’s best practices should be required for members of the Congress, as demonstrated by various controversies of the past year. Think: Anthony Weiner.”

For now, just look for a purple box with a check mark under the tweets, and you can tell the difference between a promoted tweet and a regular one.

Transcript by Newsy.