Survey says Twitter users would click on ads – if they were there…

It must be tough being Ev Williams at the moment. So your start up Twitter has taken over the world and you have just landed a further $100 million to shore up its technology and infrastructure. But now it seems inevitable that you will have to plaster your beloved online baby with ads.

Well according to a survey from Los Angeles-based research group Interpret LLC, Ev really shouldn’t have too many sleepless nights as it concludes that if ads are placed on Twitter its users would happily click away.

The report suggests that Twitter users are twice as likely to review or rate products, visit online visit company profiles and click on advertisements or sponsors than Facebook or MySpace users are.

Interpret said the data suggest that Twitter users uniquely demonstrate higher engagement with brands.

“Twitter has gone from digerati fad to industry force,” said Michael Gartenberg, vice president of strategy and analysis at Interpret, in the report.”Vendors ignoring Twitter users along with their reach and influence do so at their own peril.”

There has already been a great deal of debate in the UK on how brands’ reputations have suffered after they have taken a kicking at the hands of micro bloggers.

So far Twitter founders Ev Williams and Biz Stone have been very tight lipped about how the company intends to make money. There has been talk of special services for business users, though so far no concrete details have been given.

Were Twitter to include ads on the site it would certainly turn it into one of the most profitable sites on the web. The problem for Williams and Stone is how many users will be put off by the ads and migrate to rival micro blogging services.

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