The fastest growing social networking site of all time, based in California and valued at over 1bn has been the focus of a particular question from the beginning, how will it turn a profit? The company has avoided any move towards traditional advertising in its four years and it'd executives claim that it has been developing over the years to add value before profit.

Twitter recently launched 'promoted tweets' which Co-founder of Twitter, Biz Stone has described as "ordinary tweets that businesses and organisations want to highlight to a wider group of users".

To begin with the promoted tweets will only appear at the top of relevant search results, similar to Google's 'sponsored links' but a second stage will relevantly integrate the tweets into users feeds.

Some of the companies who have had the most success with twitter have been the first to invest, such as Starbucks, Virgin America, Best Buy and Red Bull. The companies are not only going to benefit from the ads but also the PR received by the launch of the platform.

To control the relevance of promoted tweets and ensure its success, Twitter Executives insist that these promoted tweets must "resonate with users". If the tweets are not retweeted and replied to, they will be deleted.

There is no doubt of Twitter's power as a channel of influence creating buzz around a product or service, but some experts worry that this new concept, although necessary to ensure its survival, could be shunned by users, causing them to hit back at the brands and create a negative online buzz. Something the brands would have no control over and struggle to deal with.

Many brands have used twitter as a customer service tool, responding to negative feedback directly and instantly, which has had a great effect for the brands that use it properly. But some experts think that users will enter twitter in a 'complaining' mood rather than a 'buying' one so this new ad format may only cause trouble, in real time, which companies will have to respond to.