Izea to launch sponsored Tweets service

Sponsored Tweets is set to launch on July 20 with 200 users of the microblogging site -- 5 % of those celebrities -- adding sponsored links to their tweets.

Ted Murphy, founder and chief executive of US based Izea, claims that the 200 people already signed up could reach as many as one million people.

He told Online Media Daily: "It's not about how many followers they have. It is how many people they can reach in aggregate."

The cost per 140-character message ranges from £1.20 ($2) to £18,700 ($30,000), with Murphy claiming that one advertiser paid £1,560 ($2,500) to test the system.

Each link tweeted has a link that tracks the message and integrates with Google Analytics. This allows advertisers to track back to the individual account that generates sales.

Advertisers can also browse through the network of users signed up to the platform, searchable by geography, following, category, keyword and ratio of friends to followers.

The messages are fully disclosed and the users still retain complete control over their account and the messages, with the option to approve or decline advertisers.

Murphy claims this could be a new way to generate revenue for traditional media companies -- allowing them to add sponsors to news tweets.

Izea works as a mediator between bloggers with advertisers -- setting up sponsored conversations in which bloggers are paid to post about a product, service or website.

It claims to represent over 250,000 bloggers and 25,000 advertisers worldwide with clients including Disney and Armani.