On Friday, I reported on an AdAge article that showed Google was testing incorporating Twitter streams in AdSense units. The first test, which was confirmed by Google as a limited beta, would show TurboTax’s Twitter stream in AdSense units, likely on pages about taxes.

If you scan the recent @turbotax communication via Twitter, you can see why I am nervous about this implementation. If it was purely marketing speak, showing promotions or helpful tax tips, then I would understand it. But as you can see from the stream, TurboTax is having disconnected conversations with other Twitter users. If you see the latest five Tweets from TurboTax in an AdSense unit on a page on taxes, you would have no clue what the ad meant – in this case.

I have asked Google to provide a sample of what this ad unit looks like, but they did not comply. They did give me this statement:

I understand that Intuit wants to grow a following for @TurboTax on Twitter, but is this the best way to do it? A WebmasterWorld thread has discussion around this news. Many are skeptical, but skeptical for the wrong reasons. I am fairly confident I understand Twitter well, I have been on it very early, before most people and I am fairly active on it, under @rustybrick, but using it in this manner, at least the way I understand how it is being used, seems off.

Problems with showing your last five or so Tweets in an AdSense unit?
The Tweets may not be relevant to the content of the pageYou may display disconnected conversations that the public won’t be able to understandMany people still are clueless as to what Twitter isFollowers are great, but will it lead to sales (many cases, yes, it will)

In this case, I am very skeptical that this type of ad unit will work for Google and advertisers. I am sure publishers won’t like to see someone else’s Twitter stream on their pages.

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.