140Char

Reports that Twitter would launch an official advertising platform within the next month or so have spread after comments made by Anamitra Banerji, the head of product management and monetization at Twitter, at the IAB Annual Leadership Meeting, which was reported in a story on Media Post.

However, in a cryptic clarification with Techcrunch’s Erick Schonfeld, Banerji said:

“Speculation = timing, imminence, details. Truth = thinking, planning, eventuality.”

The reason for the confusion appears to be the question put to Banerji, asking whether the company would “likely in the next month or so offer Twitter owned and operated ads”, to which Banerji replied “That’s right”. Banerji has noted that he said explicitly that the timing statement was completely inaccurate, and a post by conference moderator Seth Goldstein has included an apology to Twitter for anything inferred by his reference to a statement from back in November by Twitter COO Dick Costolo about advertising being in the works.

GigaOm has referred to a media source which suggested that the platform may launch at South by Southwest which beings on March 12, and that Twitter has been working with several launch partners from both traditional and new media, but plans are still tentative.

The fact that Twitter has been working on an advertising service for months isn’t a secret, but the reason interest is so high is that no-one is sure what form it will take, and most importantly, what affect it might have on user numbers if advertising annoys them. Twitter is probably more vulnerable than most to a backlash by users as those most productive members at the top of the power curve are still proportionally high social media and digital types amongst the celebs with huge follower numbers.