Twitter Launches Promoted Accounts

Now, Twitter has officially launched promoted accounts which is a new advertising format aimed to gain more followers by displaying Twitter's "Suggestions For You" Features. Twitter has started syndication of promoted tweets and Promoted Trends to third-party apps.
Promoted Accounts utilizes algorithms that calculate whether you’d be interested in a specific promoted account before displaying it in the “Suggestions for You” section. Twitter’s   example is Xbox, which will be displayed to users that follow gaming-related accounts, but aren’t following @xbox.
Promoted Accounts is in the testing phase, so only a “handful of companies” will have their Twitter accounts promoted. It’s certain to expand over time if the tests prove successful.
Buried in Twitter’s announcement was another interesting tidbit, though; the company has officially begun testing Promoted Tweets and Promoted Trends in third-party apps, starting with Hootsuite. The company has been preparing for the rollout of Promoted Tweets and Trends in third-party apps for several months now.

While both are referenced in the Twitter API, only select partners can utilize them, at least for now. It’s being billed as a way for third-party developers to monetize their apps. Twitter has become increasingly competitive with its developers, creating a lot of uncertainty around the Twitter platform. Twitter acquired Tweetie earlier this year and launched BlackBerry and Android apps.

Source:http://mashable.com/2010/10/04/twitter-launches-promoted-accounts/