According to AdWeek, advertisers could soon see a new format for Promoted Tweets on Twitter.

Currently, brands pay to have a tweet shown to more members than just their followers. While Promoted Tweets can be targeted by search terms or followed accounts, the tweet must be shared organically by the brand before promotion.

It appears that Twitter is testing a new option that would allow you to create a Promoted Tweet without first having to share it with your followers.

Sources close to the beta test told AdWeek that you would still have to create an organic tweet, but it wouldn’t have to be published first. Instead, it can be served as just a Promoted Tweet.

Earlier this week, Facebook made a similar format switch, allowing you to create Page posts to run ads without publishing to your Timeline first. By removing this requirement, creating ads on Facebook (and soon maybe Twitter) is more similar to traditional display ads.

Twitter spokesperson Matt Graves said the company had nothing to share regarding these rumors. Should this roll out, it would be a major shift away from the company’s current advertising policy, which ensures that advertisers are actually part of the Twitter community.

However, we have a feeling that this would be a welcomed change, at least for advertisers. As AdWeek has pointed out, the straight-to-paid Promoted Tweets would let you better target content without overwhelming your current followers with marketing copy.

[Via: AdWeek, Image credit: Maria Hagglof]