In general, I am skeptical when “advertisements” and “social media” are spoken in the same breath. Social media is supposed to be consumer driven, inclusive and authentic. But advertisements are driven by business, tend to be intrusive and create a lot of noise. So the idea of them together is an oxymoron. This brings us to news about their intermingling.

TweetUp is a new start-up that launched this week. It is basically a Twitter search engine, except that it has a built-in ad platform. TweetUp’s mission is to “…bring great tweets and tweeters to all the content and locations that are important to [users].” The idea of TweetUp is to eliminate noise in Twitter streams, rather than introduce it.

At first blush, this seems contradictory; however, by “noise,” TweetUp is referring to tweets that don’t add value through context, links or analysis. This includes tweets from “consumers.”

TweetUp considers more than just recency when ranking search results. It also uses an algorithm to determine whether some tweets carry more weight than others. Its goal is to reduce noise by pushing unproductive tweets beneath the fold.

The algorithm will be applied to advertisers, as well; however, their rankings will also be impacted by the keywords they bid on. TweetUp insists the idea isn’t to exclude users, though. Rankings aren’t paid for exclusively and will require a positive response from the community; therefore, advertisers will have to create content that searchers see as credible and valuable.

Twitter also announced news about its new ad format, Promoted Tweets. (Please see our recent blog post for more on Promoted Tweets.)

The major difference between the two is that TweetUp advertisers are not purchasing ad space; instead, they are influencing their position in search results. Since other variables are factored into TweetUp’s ranking algorithm, whether or not a tweet maintains or improves its position is up to the community to decide.

Twitter is also measuring the community’s response. If an ad doesn’t resonate, ad space still exists at the top of the page. The Promoted Tweet is all that will change.

TweetUp compares Twitter’s ad model to traditional advertising. Twitter contends that its model isn’t pure advertising, but simply taps into perceived relevancy.

At this point, TweetUp doesn’t have a user base to offend. That means user expectations will align with the platform. Twitter, on the other hand, risks intruding on an existing user base. Any drastic moves, and Promoted Tweets might follow in the footsteps of New Coke. Don’t remember New Coke? Exactly.