Twitter has broadened its reach by letting websites add ‘Follow’ buttons that visitors can click to begin tracking posts at the globally popular microblogging service.
Twitter billed the button as ‘a new way to follow Twitter accounts directly from the websites you visit every day.’
The feature was rolled out the same day Web advertising company AdGrok announced it has been bought by San Francisco-based Twitter.
‘When Twitter approached us and asked if we'd be interested in working on their monetisation platform, we realised that this was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that we just couldn't pass up,’ AdGrok said in a blog post.
‘Starting today, we will be working full-time on Twitter's revenue engineering team.’
The new feature is the latest in a series of developments by Twitter that have made it possible for users to interact with the microblogging site across the web.
Just last month the social network launched a new feature enabling users to reply to, forward or favourite tweets that are featured on other websites other than www.twitter.com
Websites that took part in the Follow button launch included online venues for pop stars Lady Gaga, Justin Bieber and Britney Spears as well as news, sports, and video sites such as The Telegraph, CNN, MTV and Sports Illustrated.
In a blog post, Twitter’s Brian Ellin reported ‘More than 50 sites have added the Follow Button today, making it easy for you to discover the Twitter accounts of your favorite reporters, athletes, celebrities, and other personalities.
Using the Follow Button is as simple as a single click. You can also see the profile and latest Tweets of the account you want to follow by clicking the username next to the Button.’
It is expected that many more journalists, athletes and celebrities will enable the Burron in the coming months.
Twitter took in $45m in global advertising revenue in 2010 and was on track to more than triple that figure this year, according to industry tracker eMarketer.
