Mashable innovates with new Twitter ad format

Mashable has introduced a new “social ad format” that incorporates Twitter updates from sponsors.

According to Mashable founder Pete Cashmore:

Twitter Brand Sponsors is a small step towards our sociable ads goal. Here’s how it works: a limited number of brands (and one charity!) looking to engage with the social media community can have their latest Tweets syndicated into the Mashable sidebar, and interested visitors can choose to connect with those brands on Twitter.

The ad unit serves a double purpose; it offers up-to-date data from sponsors via their Twitter accounts, delivering a more interesting ad, while also promoting those Twitter accounts within the unit. That people would pay to promote their Twitter accounts isn’t really surprising given the popularity of the service, although how well this format converts is to be seen.

A picture of the ad format above. Innovative is the word that comes to mind and kudos to Mashable for trying it.