Thanks!! Ron Paul told me he really appreciates it 

Great questions, all. The rate is up to the person who creates the campaign and he must compete with other advertisers for the attention of Twitterers. If it's Nike and they want to blatantly promote shoes, they may need to pay a higher amount that the Red Cross promoting a charity. It's simply a market, so sponsors set the rate they're willing to pay, and Twitter users decide if that's enough to compensate them for sending the sponsored message to their audience.

Users that spam their own followers too often or with highly erroneous messages will tend to lose followers, and thus there's a feedback mechanism to discourage that naturally.

The site has a few anti-spam techniques for eliminating "bots" and similar accounts. They're reported to twitter and banned from the site. It's fairly easy to manually review accounts to see if they're bots, and there are automatic tools available also. There will always be some bots that exist there temporarily, and advertisers should take that into consideration when pricing their CPM numbers.

SponsoredTweets.com is, unfortunately for them, stuck in the pre-bitcoin world    They require a sign up process, and then certain users have to be approved and matched with certain sponsors. Rates are decided by the twitter user, so basically every sponsor needs to check each user and vet them and gauge them according to CPM figures individually. Would be a pain in the butt. They also focus on securing contracts with celebrity tweeters, whereas FeedZeBirds is accessible to anyone with any size account and they are paid proportionately automatically (and instantly with no fees anywhere in the world!)

The future of political speech...

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=53429.0

Alas... a sign of a good invention is its applicable use for evil purposes 

Many doubters have said "bitcoin is good for nothing" and doesn't provide any useful value.  Well, here's a demonstration of useful value.

Those of you who know about American politics know the US Republican Primary season is in full swing. There is a candidate I support (Ron Paul), and there is a candidate I despise (Newt Gingrich).

It so happens that Ron Paul's campaign just put together an attack ad against Newt, slamming him for his hypocrisy. The ad is a bit too "propaganda" for my liking, but the message is true. So, I'm going to spread this video out to over 100,000 people via Twitter. Some portion of them will forward it to their friends, etc. But how will I do this? I'm just some dude up against the political and media elite of the world.

I can do this quick, cheap, and easily with Bitcoin.

Step 1) I use FeedZeBirds.com to create a campaign - this takes 30 seconds as I just sign in with my twitter account. No ID verification. No bank account. No lengthy forms of any kind. All made irrelevant by Bitcoin.

Step 2) I seed the campaign (I've chosen to send 2 btc). Money is approved after 6 confirmations - so an hour after the idea crosses my mind, the campaign is live.

Step 3) There isn't even a step 3

The campaign message is now available for Twitter users around the world to propagate my propaganda. and quickly toss  There is a public donation address on the campaign so people who ALSO support the idea can toss in a coin and keep it going. Many of the people who tweet the message will have it appear in Facebook, making it even more viral as those who support the cause can click the link and contribute - earning bitcoins themselves by retweeting or adding bitcoins to the fund.

See the campaign here: http://www.feedzebirds.com/a823
Donate funds here: 12cy9BBaLsjCoVT8GeVxhZdUi4r9dJ6JyX

Feel free to retweet it yourself if you're a Ron Paul fan, you'll earn .08 btc for every thousand follower you have, paid instantly (again, no forms to fill out, to waiting, no bank accounts, no ID info.)

The efficiency and smoothness afforded by Bitcoin is utterly revolutionary. This is just one small example of the new things Bitcoin allows in media and marketing. Imagine any PR, advertising, or charity campaign using this mechanism to distribute their message worldwide with almost zero barrier to entry. Imagine a Twitter campaign like this for the Japan relief efforts, or the Haiti earthquake fund after the destruction hit. How does a concerned man in Taiwan donate to a Haitian quickly and easily? Bitcoin changes everything.

UPDATE Dec 4: 
77 Tweets
35,152 Beaks Fed
68,955 Beaks Remaining (funds available)

Total Earned = All the btc paid to you in the lifetime of your account
Earnings = Same as above (maybe we should make the term the same)

Minimum payout is 0.01 btc... so if you tweet 1btc of ads, and then another one for .005, the amount sent to your address would only be 1btc, with the rest held until you pass the .01 threshold again.

Keep the questions coming if you have them =)

That's creative, I like it =)

At least he got the third sentence correct.

Whenever I see the word "fair" in relation to a price, I know to stop reading.

EDIT: Sorry I came across as kinda an ass there... didn't mean to be rude, but people who claim a certain price is fair or unfair are missing the whole purpose and function of a price.  Regarding your inflation argument, it's true that 7200 coins per day is "high inflation" by typical definitions, but if the demand for coins is more than 7200 per day, the inflating currency will still see a rising price. Personally, I don't think the 7200 coins matter much at all, A) because only a portion of them are sold, the rest are kept and B) the daily volume of sales is much higher than 7,200 coins (meaning the new coins are only a minor part of the coins on offer).

Bitcoin's price will be almost entirely depending on it's adoption over the next few years, not on its inflation rate. Inflation is a factor, sure, but only a minor one given the massive potential for wider adoption and global demand. If the Bitcoin price falls further, it will not be because of the inflation rate.

Yes some of that... but mostly just free people engaging in businesses without asking for permission from clowns with badges. Thank god there are people who just move forward without pleading with the gatekeepers. Heroes all.

Hi, I think all three of your tweets were sent in one transaction, probably shortly after you entered your address. I looked at the CPM of the three tweets and they add up to about .01 something, and that's what was sent:

http://blockexplorer.com/tx/f592a8ae533a9db8f919e02e7af15ba52846aa9e8a838002df5ca80cfb24c0cd

All good?

Hi HostFat,

Your message is a bit hard to understand... but lemme try to help =)

-Currently you cannot delete campaigns, but if you wish to cancel it just click the refund button and remaining btc will be returned to you (this applies only if you're an advertiser).

-If someone retweets without any BTC address, the earnings pile up in the account and will be released to the user as soon as he enters a btc address OR an email address (we can pay out to emails)

-If someone doesn't have an account with FeedZeBirds he will not get any earnings for any retweets. However, creating an account happens instantly when you log in via twitter at FeedZeBirds.com. Retweets are only paid AFTER this first login because then the account will exist.

Hope that helps clarify, thanks!
-Erik

Ira of BTCinch and I were Featured on The Bitcoin Show 052 yesterday to discuss FeedZeBirds, Kim Kardashian, and Nigeria:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VuLAhZsFc1A

At this point, we're not going to assume what price will motivate retweets... but certainly a higher CPM will get your ad distributed faster and (perhaps) to higher quality viewers (because the more spammy accounts will retweet anything, but more authentic accounts will be more selective).

We do have little counter on the Create Campaign page which tells you what CPM number is needed to get your ad on the front page. The ads are ordered by CPM, so prominence will be given to the better CPMs.

When the site's been running a while we'll collect some data and offer some cool statistical info for advertisers.

Don't forget FeedZeBirds.com launched!  https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=52638.0
Also featured interview on The Bitcoin Show 052:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VuLAhZsFc1A&feature=youtu.be

I think it can achieve stability in terms of not having large daily, weekly, or monthly moves. Merchants and users will feel confident that the price tomorrow will be almost identical to the price today, just as we do with USD/EUR today (maybe bad example

However, since it's not a "managed" supply of money, and the supply is strictly limited to 21m units, we should expect price levels to fall over time in a predictable pattern. Just as in today's world we know goods and services will cost 1-5% more next year (due to inflation), so in a Bitcoin world we'll know goods and services will cost X% LESS next year. Instead of expecting to get a raise every year to compensate for cost of living, perhaps a salary will stay flat or even fall over time. It's wierd, I know, but so long as these moves are predictable and relatively steady, the market actors will adjust.

But with all of this, I'm talking very long term... 10-20 years away. Until Bitcoin is really universal, it will be volatile, mechanisms like Bit-pay that allow traders to move in and out of the currency in the blink of an eye will be essential.

Love it!  hahaha

Looks great Zhou!

I disagree strongly with this statement (and Bitcoin is certainly already a "unit of account"... that is a very easy definition to satisfy).

Bitcoin will become a store of value over time. The reason it's volatile is because A) it's new, B) it's userbase is extremely tiny, C) adoption and usage patterns are volatile.  These three things diminish over time, and as they diminish the exchange rate of Bitcoins to other currencies will become smoother.

In a world where millions of people were using Bitcoins and buying and selling them, the market depth would be massive, and individual purchases would not cause 20% swings. The USD doesn't move 20% in a day not because it's a superior currency (quite the contrary), but because it has a market depth and breadth that is enormous. If Bitcoin ever achieved a similar usage extent, we could expect similar stability (though likely with a long-term price increase pattern relative to other goods due to the supply limit - and this is okay also).

As with many criticisms of Bitcoin, the argument that "it's too volatile so it won't be adopted as money" is resolved with time. Don't confuse the short-term observation of volatility for long-term, fundamental behavior.

With that said, I do agree with Tony's thesis that Bitcoin's use as a quick money transfer/exchange system is also valid. Bitcoin doesn't require stability for it to be valuable, but I expect it will achieve stability over the years anyway.

Direct from Mises Institute: http://mises.org/store/product.aspx?ProductId=177
Got mine signed by Ron Paul