Twitter goes on the road in the UK

The first-ever UK Twitter roadshow will occur next week to celebrate and launch the site’s new layout. Senior Twitter staff will be coming over and giving talks as well as running events to showcase the website’s latest features. Will this help the site gain a larger UK following?

This is the first time Twitter has specifically and significantly addressed the UK media. TechHub, a UK company that provides office space for web start-ups, has often commented on the lack of attention the UK press receives from Silicon Valley start-ups; could Twitter’s visit be a direct result?

Twitter product manager Shiva Rajaraman and director of sales Amanda Levy are addressing the UK digital industry throughout next week.

It has been reported that Rajaraman and Levy will also be meeting with UK brands managers and agencies to promote the website’s ad platform.

The latest site was launched earlier this week and has slowly rolled out over the whole Twitter community. A lot of #newtwitter tweets contain bugs and small improvement suggestions: shouldn’t the team have sorted the main issues before heading over?

Twitter’s visit ties in with the AdTech London advertising conference, taking place on 21 – 22 September at National Hall in Olympia.

The advertising opportunities available to businesses include Promoted Tweets and Trends as well as Early Bird promotions. These features have been tested fairly successfully in the US; will they translate into success in the UK?

A Twitter spokesperson said: “Our monetization efforts have been very US-centric thus far and that will change in the future. It makes sense to talk to key brands in the UK sooner rather than later.”

I would be interested in seeing any new adverting methods available on Twitter. Promoted Tweets and Trends are good and effective, but will they ever just use banner ads? Or get creative with more location-specific suggestions of who you should Follow?

Twitter claims its new layout makes “digesting information easier”, but does it make monetizing the site any simpler? A recent survey said that the majority of Twitter users wouldn’t pay to use the site, so the company is going to have to get creative to generate profit.

The visit is a welcome move by the company; the UK media does tend to be ignored by Silicon Valley start-ups. When they hold a press conference or announce a new product we have to go to them, so this makes a long-awaited change.