It’ll be interesting to see if that number grows or shrinks once he starts doing sponsored tweets, and what form those tweets will take.

Ian does call it an “experiment” in the auction page, and I think it’s worth trying out. Sponsorship may be a viable way to monetize microblogging via twitter, just like it’s a viable model for monetizing full-scale blogs.

It'll be interesting to see if that number grows or shrinks once he starts doing sponsored tweets, and what form those tweets will take.

Ian does call it an “experiment” in the auction page, and I think it's worth trying out. Sponsorship may be a viable way to monetize microblogging via twitter, just like it's a viable model for monetizing full-scale blogs.

There will be no impact on the text of my tweets (a la @scobleizer). That’s annoying. Instead, what’s up for grabs is the skin on my profile, and the replacement of my avatar/icon with the high bidder’s logo.

As for the cost, I figured it had to start somewhere, and given the high value of some of my followers (take a look at the list, you’ll recognize many of them: http://twitter.com/ischafer/followers), I figured it carried a B2B premium, yet still wouldn’t impact the tone or content of my tweets. Heck, I thought 400 bucks was a bargain.

And any money generated is being donated to charity (The David Wright Foundation).

Again, this is being done to make a point and start a conversation.

I’ll be blogging the process (and the coverage of it) after the auction is over.

Thanks for joining the conversation (as @jaffefuice would say)!

There will be no impact on the text of my tweets (a la @scobleizer). That's annoying. Instead, what's up for grabs is the skin on my profile, and the replacement of my avatar/icon with the high bidder's logo.

As for the cost, I figured it had to start somewhere, and given the high value of some of my followers (take a look at the list, you'll recognize many of them: http://twitter.com/ischafer/followers), I figured it carried a B2B premium, yet still wouldn't impact the tone or content of my tweets. Heck, I thought 400 bucks was a bargain.

And any money generated is being donated to charity (The David Wright Foundation).

Again, this is being done to make a point and start a conversation.

I'll be blogging the process (and the coverage of it) after the auction is over.

Thanks for joining the conversation (as @jaffefuice would say)!