Exciting announcement by Twitter tonight in the NY Times.  We’ve already been asked by many people how the strategy we announced last night differs from the one Twitter announced tonight.  Here is the answer in a nutshell:

The Twitter Premise:  Advertisers will pay money to have their ads shown to people who are searching for tweets.  A reasonable premise – this essentially defines traditional advertising.

The TweetUp Premise:  People who are searching for content want to see the most relevant tweets, not pure ads. Tweeters who are passionate about their subject and want to build a targeted following will invest money to allow themselves to be discovered by targeted readers. TweetUp is betting on the long-term value of acquiring a passionate targeted following. This is a break from the traditional advertising model, going beyond it to more carefully and clearly align the user’s interests and needs with those of the highest quality tweeters.

The Twitter Offering:  When people search for information/tweets, show them an ad each time they do a search.

The TweetUp Offering:  When people search for information/tweets, bubble the best ones up to the top and show off the best/most committed tweeters, where “willingness to invest” is only one factor in determining who is serious about their tweets.