Why Twitter's 'Suggested Users' is the Next Superbowl Ad (or "Calacanis offers $500k for three years")

3/19/2009

Title: Why Twitter’s ‘Suggested Users’ is the Next Superbowl Ad (or
“Calacanis offers $500k for three years”)
Location: Mahalo HQ, Santa Monica
Date/Time: March, 19th 2009 2:14pm
Subscribers: Does it really matter? It’s just a number (13,159)
How to sign up for Jason’s List: http://www.tinyurl.com/jasonslist
How to follow jason on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/jasoncalacanis
Republishing: Do not republish on the web, feel free to forward to a friend
==============================

Last week, some of you may have read a headline that said I offered
Twitter $250,000 to make me one of the default users in their system.
The headline is almost accurate. I did offer them $250,000, but it was
for two years as a *suggested* user, not a default user. There are no
“default” users on Twitter. There is simply a suggested users page
when you sign up. Being on this page results in 5-10k people following
you per day.

Also, I wasn’t thinking of using the suggested user slot for
http://www.twitter.com/jasoncalacanis, but rather
http://www.twitter.com/questions. There is a big difference: one is my
personal account and the other one is for Mahalo’s Answers product,
which is booming. (40-60k folks are using it daily after 90 days in
the market). With over 60,000 followers, my personal account is,
frankly, probably bigger than it should be.

Splashing the Pot
————————–
A quarter of a million dollars is attention-grabbing and that’s
exactly why I offered it: I wanted to splash the pot. I wanted to get
the attention of Twitter CEO Evan Williams, founder Jack Dorsey and
most of all investors Fred Wilson and Bijan Sabet. It worked well, and
I’ve been in brief, but not substantive, discussions with each of them
about marketing the Mahalo Answers product on Twitter.

In the process of making this offer, we received a ton of press and
started a massive discussion about the monetization of Twitter. I’ve
been told that, at conferences all over the place, people have been
discussing “Calacanis of Mahalo’s proposal to buy Twitter users.”

Excellent. Two of the three nouns in that sentence belong to me.

Half-bluffing
————————–
Of course, I was only half-bluffing with this move. I was 90% sure
Twitter wouldn’t take the money and I wouldn’t have to pony up a
$250,000 check. However, if they did call my bluff and cashed in the
$250k, I actually would have gotten what I wanted: two to ten million
Twitter followers and the ability to drive one to two million visits
to Mahalo a month from Twitter.

My plan was to post the Top Five most absolutely fascinating questions
from Mahalo Answers to our @questions account every day.

Everyone loves a timely or fascinating question and, in my estimation,
I would get a one percent clickthrough rate on each question. If I was
able to reach three million followers, and kept half of them (1.5m),
that means every tweet would get 15,000 visits. Five a day means
75,000 daily visits, and over two million visits a month–or close to
50m visits of two or three years. Some percentage of those two million
would participate in Mahalo by asking or answering questions, and if
that number is also .5 to 1%, that means I would get about 250,000 new
members for my service.

Each of those 250,000 new members would cost me one dollar, and I’m
certain over their lives we would monetize them for much more than
that.

In other words, I was absolutely certain that the $250,000 bet would
pay off. Either I would just get the press for making it or I would
get the press for making it AND get the deal of a lifetime.

What’s a top slot actually worth?
————————–
The top 20 slots on Twitter are actually worth–to some people–2-10x
what I offered. If Southwest, Amazon, eBay or Zappos were to get their
hands on one of these accounts, they could easily make one
uber-compelling tweet a week. 50 tweets from Amazon with things like
“Top 100 Science Fiction Movies of All Time–as rated by George Lucas”
would garner a two to 10% CTR. A Zappos tweet with “Back to school:
Buy two pairs of shoes get one free” would get a huge response on
August 20th.

A JetBlue daily notice saying “The first 1,000 folks to respond to
this alert get $25 off their next flight” would mean never having
another empty seat.

The point is that Twitter has the ability to unleash a direct
marketing business the likes of which the world has NEVER seen. I
predict they will, and when they do, they will make the Twitter
nay-sayers look like the donkeys they really are. (Note: you ever
notice the folks who have the most to say about making money are the
ones who’ve never made any? Exactly.)

Direct marketing by mail changed retail forever, as did the Web and email.

Twitter will take that to an entirely new level. Why? Because people
*live* inside of Twitter like they have never lived inside of a
product before. We have NBA stars twittering about their performance
at half-time and a president who leveraged the service to get elected.
It doesn’t take a genius to understand that there is something
disruptive going on here.

Compared to the Superbowl
————————–
A Superbowl commercial costs $2.5-$3m for 30 seconds and is viewed by
some percentage of the 100m folks who tune in (i.e. those that aren’t
drunk and/or making out in a bedroom somewhere). Let’s say all 100m
see your message, with the ones who didn’t see it being made up for by
the couple million who see it later online or on the news.

If you paid three million, that would cost you about three cents a
person. If you paid Twitter $250k and got five million followers, it
costs you five cents a person.

The Superbowl folks you market to once and it’s over. More than 50% of
the Twitter users will follow you on an ongoing basis if you post
creative, fun and helpful tweets.

Bottom line: Superbowl commercials are for one drunken Sunday, but
Twitter relationships can be for life.

What is so disruptive about Twitter
————————–
From my perspective, the most disruptive thing about Twitter is its
presence. It’s everywhere at all times in a way that only an AT&T “You
Will”-style commercial could have predicted in 1995 (or could explain
in 2009–funny how that goes huh?). People get and give Tweets from
the time they wake up until they fall asleep.

Twitter is a giant, open email box that we all hang out in every day.

The power of Twitter is yet to be fully understood, in the same way
email and the Web weren’t fully understood… except by the people who
made the AT&T “You Will” commercial. (Who the frack were those
geniuses anyway!??! If someone can tell me who did those commercials,
I’d like to take them to lunch!).

Oh yeah, I think I re-raise
————————–
Quick message to Twitter and their investors: I re-raise.

My new offer to Twitter: $500,000 for three years for @questions as a
suggested user in the sign-up process.

Ground rules:

a) We post no more than three absolutely AMAZING questions to the
@questions account per day.
b) None of those messages can be an advertisement… 100% of them have
to be actual content.
c) If you discontinue the autofollow program, we’ll take the $500,000
in followers at .10 each (i.e. 5m).

If you’re one of the 17 who made it to the bottom, I’m wondering what you think:

1. Am I crazy, or crazy like fox?
2. What’s the value of a Twitter follower?
3. What’s the value of of being one of “The Suggested?”

The way I see it, there are two ways to win the pot: raise or have the
best hand–in this case I think I’ll do both.

all the best,

Jason McCabe Calacanis
CEO & Founder, Mahalo.com
jason@mahalo.com

http://www.aripaparo.com Ari

Without necessarily buying your math I totally agree directionally. The frequency, intimacy, and immediacy of the twitter-reader relationship is a goldmine for anyone wanting attention.
http://inoveryourhead.net julien

jason, you know twitter would never accept this, but despite that this is a great post, because:

A) it would totally be worth it;
B) it’s great linkbait either way.

@julien
carson mehl

NW Ayer & Son, New York created the “You Will” advertisements.

They are now defunct, but responsible for some awesome campaigns.
http://sashafriedenberg.com Sasha Friedenberg

It’s a great idea… The viral marketing
part of Twitter could definitely become a major source of
revenue for the creators of Twitter…

http://blog.futurelab.net/2009/03/how_to_use_twitter_for_pr.html
Mike

What I would like to see with Mahalo Answers is integration
with Facebook Connect. So when I ask / answer a question,
it then gets posted to my Facebook wall / newsfeed
and lets people know I answered a question / posted a
question at Mahalo answers.

twitter: @mcalvey
http://www.chasethesun.co.nz Pranil Singh

Hey man

Wicked post, pretty much agree with everything you say. I’m
from New Zealand, mainstream public down here are still
getting their heads around what twitter is. I think once the
marketing gurus undertand/realise the power of what your
talking about we’ll get a heap of kiwi companies jumping on
the bandwagon.

Offering a wad of cash is pretty genius, you must be stoked
with the publicity it’s generated. Looking forward to see how
twitter reacts.

@pranilsingh
http://pewreviews.wordpress.com Warren

I think Twitter should take you up on this, and use it to make the company profitable. This is something that could work for Twitter, and it would be a lot less intrusive than selling advertising on the site.

I hope the Twitter folks are listening.
Chris

I think you are definitely out in front of what could be a game-changer in marketing. I relate it to the Google targeted ads. If I’m going to view an ad, I’d rather it be something I’m highly likely to be interested in. Brands that figure out how to use Twitter to enrich the experience of their target users are going to be big winners.
http://www.tigerprince.com Hank Davis

Excellent post with compelling ideas! I think that your math is probably on par. If you have the money to make it happen then why not put the idea out there and give it a whirl. Like you said; if nothing more you’ll get a ton of free press because this is an interesting story.
http://twitter.com/jamesckim James Kim

Defaults are extremely valuable. i.e. IE bundled in Windows.:-)

3 years is a long time… twitter should just action the
default suggested user off every week. As the service grows
the prices will grow and they do not have a commitment
before price discovery lets them figure out the value.
chris

I think your post is fair in regards to how much traffic
your will drive to your website and monetize. However, I
think that this “re-raising” is just link bait and a ploy
to garner more attention than this topic deserves. I believe
that Twitter will create business models which supersede this
direct marketing to followers. I believe that Twitter will create
a subscription business model for businesses that will produce
analytics based on their Twitter accounts. This will not alienate
the end user like this idea will. Just a thought!!
Best of luck
@ctsiropoulos
http://www.swartzfager.org/blog Brian Swartzfager

This idea makes perfect sense to me. Twitter looks like it’s
going to become a major propagator of information, whether it
be news, advice, or advertisements.
your conscience

jason, you are marketing scum. go rot somewhere under imaginary piles of money, and may your last thought be “i fail at life”.
RowBear

Totally agree with your message. The “opt in” nature of twitter
absolutely takes it to the next level. The increasing notoriety
in popular media is pushing it to the tipping point. I’m sure
the Twitter folks are grateful for the press, but if they actually
took you up on the offer it could jeopardize the “trust” value
of the list. However, if they are pimping Britney, the “trust”
value of the list may already be a moot point.
http://joelaz.com Joe Lazarus

I’m curious… would you be willing to pay as much per impression for a similar spot in one of the popular online email services or is there something specific to Twitter that makes them a more attractive place to acquire customers? If Gmail had a suggested email subscription feature, would you pony up?

My hunch is that if Twitter offered this feature, consumers would become wary of that page over time after realizing that it’s a paid advertisement. The opt-in rate for suggested users is relatively high today because it’s perceived as an unbiased recommendation, not an ad.
http://tuaw.com Mike

The way you’re spinning it, $500K seems cheap.
http://twitter.com/yagelski yagelski

Great blog post. Twitter will likely never take your offer, but your bid is kind of like the casinos who pay too much to buy the toast that is shaped like the Virgin Mary. It makes for cheap advertising. Proof in point? It prompted me to visit Mahalo.com for another look.
http://appular.com brianakaka

Yes, I’d have to agree with you: Twitter is the next marketing frontier… which is too bad I think.

Although I’m a marketer, there is something to be said about not polluting a space that people gather, with attempts to ‘monetize’ them. It is inevitable, however. Twitter eventually will accept money, from you or someone else like you, JetBlue, Zappos, or Appular (my company), because it has investors, and they are expecting a return on their investment.

Until that time, I’m enjoying Twitter in it’s relatively pure form. Does anyone remember email before spam? Me neither.

btw, I’m typing from 38,000 feet in the air somewhere over Iowa. I’m amazed by technology every day.

@brianakaka
scottsdaleguru

One issue I have with Twitter followers is that people tend to follower so many accounts that most individual messages are lost in the wind. This argument may be mute in light of your click-through statistics, but there is also a chance that the longer people are on Twitter, the more people they will follower, and the less each individual follower will be worth.

Regardless, the PR you are getting from this is probably worth more than a recommended account anyway.
would prefer to be anonymous

What’s the value of of being one of “The Suggested?”

I think it has little value. The new followers are random. A small percentage might be listening, and that percentage will decrease as the volume of Twitter users inevitably increases.

I know business people like to think everyone is listening to their marketing messages, but they are not.

P.S. I think the suggested page was a brilliant move by Twitter because it makes internet personalities, celebrities, etc, so livid that they are driving their established audience to Twitter to increase their follower counts in order to outdo “The Suggested”.
http://ocbizblog.com Steve Averill

The naysayers have not thought it through like this…there is
something about Twitter that has always struck me as being
a true game changer and not for the obvious reasons. Its more
than a BBS.
http://www.ledjit.com Dominic Jaar

I generally agree with you. To answer your questions, I would say that a Twitter follower only has a relative value depending on its profile (interest, income, location, etc.). The value in your idea is truly to be “The Suggested”.

I would add an element to your proposal: twitters should be able to have preferred followers. If it becomes possible, I’d like you to preferred me!

@Ledjit
http://twitter.com/adebuche Amaury de Buchet

Hello Jason,

You may probably have started a new market for domainers …
Already Twitter IDs like support, client, customer, service, etc… are taken
Cheers,

Amaury
http://phreadz.com Kosso

Jason. Great ideas!

btw: I have the twitter accounts @question and @answer in my control and I’ve been waiting
for a way/api to do something cool and interesting with them.
Maybe Mahalo might like to ‘sponsor’ the development of something
cool on them?

please do drop me a line [@kosso]

You also might be interested in something else I’ve concocted
see : http://twitter.com/kosso/status/1353525707

I also created a (possibly the first at the time) Twitter ‘bot’
at @dictionary – which was a pre-concept for the question/answer accounts.
http://maultasch.us/ Jayme Maultasch

Great stuff – I think it is fascinating to think of Twitter as
a new tool for direct marketing. I have seen some bad examples
of this like http://www.twitter.com/usbargains which feels to much like spam but think the idea is powerful.
http://www.graphicrating.com Andy Gongea

1. Not crazy – it was a smart move
2. Don’t know – I would probably give 5 cents on a good follower.
3. —-

One thing it is certain: U’ve got press coverage with this announcement. Also, u’ve made a point on a possible direction regarding Twitter future revenues.

My question for you is: Did you see a boost in followers in this period ?
howlvenice

i love this idea. there are many ideas floating out there
how twitter can monetize their service. I was thinking charge
corporations but not indivduals, and this is similar to that
concept. However I like the fact that you are offering
content, not simply coupons, though users will appreciate
both. I just learned recently that the most searched term on
google for years was Britney Spears, and just this year has
become coupons. It’s all about going where your customers
are instead of driving them to where you want them to go.
As Morten Lund says, remember it’s simple, but not easy.
Rob

Great post.
Is 250k to twitter really the best way to gain followers though?

What if you spent that money in giveaways for stuff related to questions.
IE, someone asks what the best digicam is, then say one of the people that answer
will win a Canon SD-xx camera.

At least that way if people followed, it would be more of a direct
interest opt-in instead of just seeing @answers when they first sign up.
Cause who really cares about Tom?

Speaking of, why doesn’t Myspace do this with their auto-add friends when a new account is created for
myspace profiles for fashion or music?
http://vanelsas.wordpress.com/2009/03/20/the-real-value-of-twitters-suggested-users-feature/ The real value of Twitter’s ‘Suggested users feature « Alexander van Elsas’s Weblog on new media & technologies and their effect on social behavior

[...] 20, 2009 · No Comments Jason Calacanis has a long post up about the value of a Twitter suggested user. He explains that being a suggested user on Twitter is more valuable than buying a superbowl ad: [...]
http://www.raviudeshi.com Ravi

Jason,

You’re making a rookie mistake, no? Early adopters (which is the entire current userbase) are apt to be much more interested than your “regular” consumer who will come later on. Not to mention, once even one of the suggested followers is known to be a paid position, the overall value of that section will dramatically decrease.
jason

i question where you’re coming up with these click through rates. i think you’re over-estimating the potential. industry standard ctr is .2% and even with a more engaged audience i can’t see you getting more than a 1% click through.

aside from that, as a online dm advertiser i really don’t care as much about my ctr as i do about my roi. typically this would be a cost-per-sale/cost-per-lead and i’m not convinced that twitter followers would be converters. from my own experience, and that of my friends on twitter, we click to get more information but not to make a purchase/commit.

i think that until there are some solid, quantifiable marketing metrics put against an ad buy on twitter the smart marketer will hold off on offering sacks of cash just for a guaranteed placement in a list seen mostly by new users.
http://www.stephanmack.com Fullair

Even if Twitter doesn’t take your offer. You have their attention and the attention of
the media and many bloggers. And guess what, that didn’t cost you a dime.
http://Web20Portals.com/ Anteek

Right on Jason. I share your view of Twitter being the next
Big social website out there! My own prediction is on the
New Twitter Search being bigger then Google Search itself.
Why, because it has something Google does not have, instant
search on what is happening Now in the World! Newspapers
around the globe are now looking for Twitter News Hounds to
provide them with News as it happens. Businesses are flocking
to Twitter by the thousands for many reasons but also
because they can participate and hopefully succeed in one
of the biggest social marketing experiments ever. Good luck
with your $500,000 offer to Twitter. I hope they accept, as
you probably won’t be sorry to get all that traffic.
Anteek
http://twitter.com/anteek
http://www.sportytweets.com Andy Denton

Jason,

I totally agree with you regarding the value of a twitter
follower. It’s good to have some validation on this, and I
do appreciate your conversion estimates.

Click thru rates and conversions obviously increase when followers
chose to follow your account organically.

I would reason that a “adword” like ad placement would be of
higher value, than that of being included in a long list of
“suggested” users.
http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/03/20/hey-twitter-heres-a-way-to-call-jasons-bluff-and-maybe-fight-breast-cancer/ Hey Twitter, Here’s A Way To Call Jason’s Bluff And Maybe Fight Breast Cancer

[...] the mat on a bluff he probably never thought would be accepted (and he’s upped the offer to $500k for three years), Twitter gets even more press attention. And oh yeah, a sizable chunk of cash gets [...]
http://www.creativebrazil.net leoclark

1. Am I crazy, or crazy like fox?
crazy, very inspiring crazy!
go for 1M
as always, great read.
i am very interested in the future of twitter.
cheers!
leo
http://www.thefaredge.com/?p=1385 The Far Edge » Blog Archive » Hey Twitter, Here’s A Way To Call Jason’s Bluff And Maybe Fight Breast Cancer

[...] to the mat on a bluff he probably never thought would be accepted (and he’s upped the offer to $500k for three years), Twitter gets even more press attention. And oh yeah, a sizable chunk of cash gets [...]
http://twitter.com/alexiaco Alex

Twitter è uno strumento inutile se usato come replica delle vecchie campagne publicitarie, se
usato come suggerisce Jason per creare una vera relazione con il cliente tutto cambia.
Il problema che pochi “clienti” sono capaci di usare twitter (zappos è un buon esempio), in Italia
telecom ancora mi manda la pub per l’adsl quando io gio ce l’ho…

“AT&T 1993 “You Will” Ads”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TZb0avfQme8

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/You_Will

ps:we are waiting for another edition of “the monkey of the week” Jason!
Ciao
http://www.followd.com/?p=13 $500,000 For A Suggested Account « Followd

[...] reported by TechCrunch Jason Calacanis is apparently offering $500,000 big ones to gain a suggested Twitter account. Calacanis is known for pulling publicity stunts (he [...]
http://www.followd.com/2009/03/20/the-new-super-bowl-ad/ The New Super Bowl Ad – Followd

[...] reported by TechCrunch Jason Calacanis is apparently offering $500,000 big ones to gain a suggested Twitter account. Calacanis is known for pulling publicity stunts (he [...]
Dave

Crazy like fox!
http://jp.techcrunch.com/archives/20090320hey-twitter-heres-a-way-to-call-jasons-bluff-and-maybe-fight-breast-cancer/ 乳ガン撲滅支援の大義の下、TwitterにはJasonのブラフにコールするチャンスが訪れた

[...] Jasonは、まさか対抗してくる人がいるなんて思ってもいなかったブラフに対するコールを受けることになり（ちなみにJasonは三年分の権利への支払額を$500k（50万ドル）に引き上げている）、推奨リストに掲載される地位を得ることになる。Twitterはさらに注目を集めることとなる。そしてもちろん、相当な金額が、価値のある団体に寄付されることになるわけだ。 CrunchBase Information Twitter Jason Calacanis Information provided by CrunchBase [...]
http://www.kgrand.jp/index.php/2009/03/21/%e4%b9%b3%e3%82%ac%e3%83%b3%e6%92%b2%e6%bb%85%e6%94%af%e6%8f%b4%e3%81%ae%e5%a4%a7%e7%be%a9%e3%81%ae%e4%b8%8b%e3%80%81twitter%e3%81%ab%e3%81%afjason%e3%81%ae%e 乳ガン撲滅支援の大義の下、TwitterにはJasonのブラフにコールするチャンスが訪れた | KGRAND ONLINE NEWS

[...] Jasonは、まさか対抗してくる人がいるなんて思ってもいなかったブラフに対するコールを受けることになり（ちなみにJasonは三年分の権利への支払額を$500k（50万ドル）に引き上げている）、推奨リストに掲載される地位を得ることになる。Twitterはさらに注目を集めることとなる。そしてもちろん、相当な金額が、価値のある団体に寄付されることになるわけだ。 CrunchBase Information Twitter Jason Calacanis Information provided by CrunchBase [...]
http://virtualgambling.in/2009/03/calacanis-offers-more-for-featured-twitter-spot/ Calacanis Offers More for Featured Twitter Spot : virtual gambling

[...] Update: Calacanis has upped the ante, saying "My new offer to Twitter: 0,000 for three years for @questions as a suggested user in the sign-up process." He also talks about how this could be the next Super Bowl Ad, and explains his reasoning for making the offer in the first place. Original article: You have to give Mahalo CEO Jason Calacanis credit. When his name has been in the news most recently for employing a felon, he has managed to overshadow that with the buzz created by his offering of 0,000 to Twitter for 2 years’ worth of Twitter’s "suggested Follows." [...]
http://everwas.com/2009/03/calacanis-on-value-of-twitter.html Calacanis on Value of twitter

[...] Calacanis expands upon his offer to pay twitter to get his Mahalo account onto twitter’s suggested user page. [...]
http://technicalsupportgeek.com/?p=353 GNC-2009-03-20 #461 Fantastic Show Today « Technical Support Geek

[...] Gmail and Google Labs Google Voice View Mac Hacking Tools Gets Updated News Graveyard Verizon Math Calacanis Has it Figured Out! DIY Craigslist Auction Don’t dial while Drunk 6 More iPhone Models? HD Movie Rentals on [...]
http://sparkplug9.com John Koetsier

Call me a Luddite, but I don’t want auto-following on Twitter.

I see and buy your valuation logic … but I don’t like the current
recommended users. I don’t want those slots to be up for sale to the highers
bidder, and I actually don’t want those slots to exist at all.

How is it good for users to be forced to follow people or organizations
that will not spout ads to them?
http://cooperative.wordpress.com/2009/03/23/paying-attention-ein-etwas-anderes-geschaeftsmodell-fuer-twitter/ Paying (for) Attention – Ein etwas anderes Geschäftsmodell für Twitter « c/o operative

[...] Seine neueste: Er wäre bereit, für einen garantierten Platz in der von Twitter ausgesuchte Liste von suggested users für einen Zeitraum von zwei Jahren 250.000 US Dollar zu bezahlen. Später stockte er sein Angebot sogar auf 500.000 US Dollar für drei Jahre auf. [...]
http://kylelacy.com/get-30000-followers-on-twitter-what-is-it-worth/ Get 30,000 Followers on Twitter. What is it Worth? | Kyle Lacy, Social Media – Indianapolis

[...] Why Twitter’s ‘Suggested Users’ is the Next Superbowl Ad (or “Calacanis offe… (calacanis.com) [...]
http://edreif.com Ed Reif

Like the poker metaphors. I am Jason Calacanis and so can you!
http://www.atelier-us.com/advertising-and-marketing/article/twitters-business-model-emerging Twitter’s Business Model Emerging?

[...] believes that the spot would bring him “two to ten million Twitter followers and the ability to drive one [...]
http://twittercism.com/make-suggested-users-relevant/ Come On, Biz. Make The Suggested Users List Relevant Or Don’t Use It At All | Twittercism

[...] Calacanis recently caused a few waves by making an open offer to Twitter to pay $250,000 to appear on the suggested users list for two [...]
http://www.apileofdogbones.com/index.php/site/comments/twitter_the_new_social_bubble/ A Pile Of Dog Bones

Twitter: The New Social Bubble…

It seems the Twitter Buzz Train still has not left the station. Everyone's still talking about it and using more than 140 characters in doing so. Sure I use it, there have been Twitter Contests, the FDA uses it, the tech revolutionist Jason Calaca…
http://www.inquisitr.com/20716/twitter-suggested-users-list/ The Truth About Twitter’s ‘Suggested Users’ List

[...] Twitter $250,000 for a spot on its coveted “Suggested Users” list. Calacanis has now upped his offer to $500,000 for three years in prime [...]
http://www.soliber.net Business Trends

This is one of the most sound comments I have seen on the Social Media tools.
I kept not following you on purpose to learn from your strategies. After all,
if people would be willing to consider this JUST ANOTHER money-making machine,
we could relate to it in a positive way instead of pure awe or direct resentment.
Good post, thank you!
http://www.shoemoney.com/2009/03/30/twa-ching-twitters-monetization-paths/ Twa-Ching – Twitters Monetization Paths – ShoeMoney®

[...] little while ago, Jason Calacanis threw out that he would pay $500k to be listed as a suggested user for 3 [...]
http://twitter.com/Chris_Edwards Chris Edwards

Twitter will move in the direction of something like this, they
would be stupid not to. They have been trying to “monetize” for a hot
minute now. Thanks for your insight Jason.
http://things4share.com/blogger-tips/john-chow-vs-shoemaker-vs-jason-calanis-on-making-money-from-twitter-68 Things4share.com – Learn to Make Money online from People who have succeed Making money Online » John Chow Vs. Shoemaker Vs. Jason Calanis on Making Money from Twitter.

[...] a day from twitter only! Getting excited? Well, many people do. That’s why a little while ago Jason Calanis offered $500k for three years for @questions as a suggested user in the sign-up process. Wow, a [...]
http://www.things4share.com Agung Setiady

Nice calculation, Jason. But I think $500k is too much since you can guarantee that your followers really interested in following you. Btw, if you can get million of followers without buying it, it’ll be great.:-)
http://ilove.lukebyrne.com Luke Byrne

Yep you is crazy like a fox!
http://namechk.com/blog/2009/03/what-is-the-value-of-your-social-brand/ What Is The Value Of Your Social Brand? « namechk

[...] recently Jason Calacanis offered Twitter $250,000 for a two year stint on the “suggested users to follow page” [...]
http://www.freemoneyguide.info/twa-ching-twitters-monetization-paths Twa-Ching – Twitters Monetization Paths | Free Money Guide

[...] little while ago, Jason Calacanis threw out that he would pay $500k to be listed as a suggested user for 3 [...]
http://www.gilesdawe.com Giles Dawe

It’s a useful question to ask since it lays the foundation as to what Twitter would charge to place adverts on their site.
http://gozlag.com/?p=28 Twa-Ching – Twitters Monetization Paths | … gozlag.com

[...] little while ago, Jason Calacanis threw out that he would pay $500k to be listed as a suggested user for 3 [...]
Gilian Graves

There is a guy on Twitter, his username is stockstef, there are rumors that he is working for an online advertising platform and maybe one of the suggested user with the most potential.

I am kurious what happens…
http://beta.geeknewscentral.com/2009/03/20/gnc-2009-03-20-461-fantastic-show-today/ GNC-2009-03-20 #461 Fantastic Show Today | Geek News Central

[...] Gmail and Google Labs Google Voice View Mac Hacking Tools Gets Updated News Graveyard Verizon Math Calacanis Has it Figured Out! DIY Craigslist Auction Don’t dial while Drunk 6 More iPhone Models? HD Movie Rentals on [...]
http://401stblow.wordpress.com/2009/04/18/how-twitter-can-make-money-today/ How Twitter Can Make Money (today) « The 401st Blow :: Thoughts On Media

[...] three services as twitter-authorized services a large percentage of users would likely use them (look at what happens to new users and the suggested users twitter offers). Twitter could then offer an opt-in for a [...]
http://paulmellors.homeip.net/test1/2009/05/twitter-suckers-game-that-boosts-elite/ Twitter: sucker’s game that boosts elite

[...] the entrepreneur Jason Calacanis offered $250,000 to have his product’s account be a “suggested user” for two years, saying, [...]
http://www.regulationauthority.com/?p=15066 Twitter: sucker’s game that boosts elite | Regulation Authority for World News!

[...] the entrepreneur Jason Calacanis offered $250,000 to have his product’s account be a “suggested user” for two years, saying, [...]
http://twittercism.com/suggested-user-list/ CHART OF THE DAY: @iJustine’s Plateau Reveals The True Benefits Of Being On The Twitter Suggested User List | Twittercism

[...] of their Twitter profile per month. What’s the value of being on the SUL? Jason Calacanis ruffled a few feathers back in March when he offered Twitter $250,000 for two years on their suggested user list, later [...]
http://amnesiablog.wordpress.com/2009/07/17/the-mystery-of-kevin-rudds-new-twitter-followers-solved/ The Mystery of Kevin Rudd’s new Twitter followers solved « Amnesia Blog

[...] many have remarked that the spots are unfair. Jason Calicanis offered to pay $250,000 (here) to be on the list citing the spot as the next “superbowl [...]
http://jeffrutherford.com/what-would-edward-bernays-be-doing-if-he-were-alive-tody-and-working-in-pr What would Edward Bernays be doing if he were alive today and working in PR? — Public media relations social media strategy for growing your business

[...] 1. Social media – Duh, you knew I was going to say that. Bernays would have loved Ashton Kucher’s race to 1 million followers. Because, regardless of what you think of Kutchner, he now has a media platform. An extremely valuable platform as detailed by Jason Calacanis. [...]
http://thenetworkhub.ca/minna/vancouver-office/confessions-of-an-entrepreneur/why-be-inspired Why be inspired? | The Network Hub – Minna Van

[...] attention for Followformation, a twitter solution his company created after being inspired by Jason Calanis‘ cash bid to be one of the suggested user in the sign up process on twitter. Victor and Josh [...]
http://vancouverofficespace.wordpress.com/2009/08/05/why-be-inspired/ Why be inspired? « The Network Hub

[...] attention for Followformation, a twitter solution his company created after being inspired by Jason Calanis‘ cash bid to be one of the suggested user in the sign up process on twitter. Victor and Josh from [...]
http://minnavan.wordpress.com/2009/08/05/why-be-inspired/ Why be inspired? « The Network Hub – Minna Van

[...] attention for Followformation, a twitter solution his company created after being inspired by Jason Calanis‘ cash bid to be one of the suggested user in the sign up process on twitter. Victor and Josh from [...]
http://www.newtnotes.com JDS

This is the first article about Twitter that actually demonstrated to me what potential value the service may have. Or at least what business value — I have yet to see the human value in telling no one that I am eating a grilled cheese sandwich.

Thanks for the insight.
http://excerpt.nabtron.com/twitter-definitely-ditching-suggested-users-list/830/ Twitter Definitely Ditching "Suggested Users List" | Nab-Excerpt

[...] the follower counts of those blessed with Twitter’s “gift.” Meanwhile, Mahalo CEO Jason Calacanis offered the company half a million dollars for three years on the list. (Twitter didn’t take him up on the [...]

Why Twitter's 'Suggested Users' is the Next Superbowl Ad (or "Calacanis offers $500k for three years")

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