Early Bird Specials for the Twitter Crowd

Early bird specials have come to Twitter with today's launch of @earlybird, Twitter's account for sponsored promotions. In a NY Times online article, Marshall Kirkpatrick recognizes the value of latest promotional Twitter tool, but notes that it's "for weaker products that can't handle the open public conversation of trending topics." He points to @earlybird's first promotion - buy one, get one free tickets to the Disney film Sorcerer's Apprentice - as a prime example. Basically, he argues, a bad product can't be promoted through chatter - it must resort to freebies.

I agree with Kirkpatrick. While a BOGO promotion is certainly not the mark of an in-demand movie, it moves product. The question is - who will the early birds be: Twitterers already interested in the movie or those who just wanted to take advantage of a good deal? After all, I know I'm more likely to buy something - even if I don't really want or need it - if I can get it at a discount. So while the promotion seems to have worked -those BOGO tickets were already sold out by the afternoon -Disney will have to face the music. They run the risk of having unsatisfied early birds (who only saw the movie because they took advantage of the promotion) tweet negative reviews. On the other hand, pleasantly surprised fans could generate positive buzz through their tweets. I guess we'll have to read what happens.

What do you see as the advantages and disadvatages to @earlybird?