Twitter

Twitter aims to turn the tweet stream into a more efficient marketing channel with the addition of a new Twitter Card that lets people quickly sign up for advertiser offers or promotions inside tweets.

Twitter Cards, also known as expanded tweets, are a 1-year-old feature meant to keep information network users glued to their streams. Cards bring rich media from partners to tweets so that when people click to expand a tweet, they can view and interact with photos, videos, content snippets, and product information without needing to leave Twitter.

On Wednesday, the company added a Lead Generation Card that lets marketers use Twitter to collect the names, Twitter names, and e-mail addresses of customer prospects, no forms required.

With the new card, advertisers can entice Twitter users to sign up for offers through expanded tweets. People need only click a single button to accept an offer and share their e-mail address directly with an advertiser. Twitter said the process is secure.

Twitter has been testing the feature with a small number of brands including Priceline and New Relic. The company said that it's only making the Lead Generation Card available to its managed clients to start, but added that a global launch is coming "soon."