Skittles.com relaunches as Twitter and social media feed

Users who type in the Skittles.com web address are taken to a search webpage on micro-blogging site Twitter that features unfiltered comments by Twitter users mentioning the word "skittles".

The new Skittles webpage, created by Agency.com, is a small panel hovering over the Twitter page, which directs users to the company's YouTube channel, the Facebook fan page, its Wikipedia entry and to Skittles photos uploaded on Flickr.

Before they can interact with the site, users are asked to enter their date of birth and acknowledge that Skittles is not responsible for the content found on these social networking sites.

The move has created a major buzz for the brand online and sent "Skittles" to the top of Twitter's list of most discussed topics.

Some Twitter users have been posting completely unrelated topics, often promoting a different brand, followed by the term "#skittles", so it would show up in the tweet stream.

Others have been tweeting racy or profane comments to apparently mock Skittles when it has no ability to control what is said.

Ben Weisman, leading digital strategist at Iris, commented to the LA Times: "Skittles, or any other brand, has to be ready to accept the users' positive and negative comments.

"It's a simple execution, nothing groundbreaking, but it's bringing together platforms and users in direct engagement that's positive for the brand."

Skittles will change the content featured on its new homepage according to what is generating a buzz at the time. For example, late last week when the site relaunched, Skittles' Wikipedia entry featured as the homepage.

Read the IAB Blog for Kieron Matthews' take on the new Skittles.com website.