Tweet Rewards: Huffington Post Attempts To Sell Twitter Feed To Advertisers

The Huffington Post's Twitter feed contains a steady stream of news and opinion, but the site founded by Los Angeles resident Arianna Huffington wants to add advertisements and marketing messages to that mix.

So far, no firms have bitten to buy ad space on the feed, but if it's successful it could be one of the first media outfits to monetize its microblogging. "It's interruptive, potentially, but it also presents an opportunity for the advertiser to say something worthwhile," Deep Focus interactive agency CEO Ian Schafer told Advertising Age. "In theory, there's more upside in doing it that way than in buying a banner ad. With those the default behavior is to ignore them. With this the default behavior may be to pay attention."

The Post will also allow advertisers to pay for comments mixed in with users' reactions to stories. The new moves, paired with hiring senior sales executives, will double revenue in 2010, HuffPo president Greg Coleman told AdAge.

FishbowlLA wonders if the HuffPo will then start to pay its writers, a luxury that, despite is influence and bicoastal presence, it seemingly can't afford.

As Slate recently opined (via Romenesko), the HuffPo relies on (often upaid) "'celebrity chefs' who dabble in the kitchen" and "don't appear to know how to cook."