Drawing the Line

Twitter's revenue model has always been a big question mark, and Promoted Trends are one big part of the equation to try to eliminate that question mark. Companies are able to pay for branding associated with certain Promoted Trends. This feature has come under fire recently, however, as certain Trends have become inappropriate and even offensive. For instance, the Discovery Channel paid for Shark Week spot and at one point trended #reasonstobeatyourgirlfriend. In the past few months, there were also several other examples of brands backing out because of trending topics in bad taste. Twitter currently edits out obscenities, but how they will draw the line beyond that remains a big question. And because that question exists, many brands are holding back from buying space.