The feature has already been launched in the US and is the first time the Search giant has featured ads from another network in its listings. It will start in the UK when Twitter initiates its advertising platform here in the early part of 2011. Promoted Tweets enable brands to invest in paid-for ads which appear in search results on the microblogging site.

The service is launched in the US this month and is expected to make its debut in the UK during 2011, reports Marketing magazine. Normal tweets already show in Google searches, but in the US Promoted Tweets now also appear in a shaded box labelled ‘Ads by Twitter’. It works in a similar way to the pay per click services provided by Google Adwords, with tweets appearing at the top of results pages under a “promoted” label.

A spokeswoman for Google said: “Twitter is pioneering advertising against short-form content, so it was a natural starting place for us.”

Twitter is in talks with several brands in the UK Including Sky, Sony and Vodafone to become the first companies on the ad platform when it launches over here. Twitter is reported to be in talks with a host of big companies, including Sky, Vodafone and Sony about being the first organisations to utilise the new marketing channel when it arrives in Britain.

The social networking site is currently testing out a new Directory tab, which provides users with advice on accounts they may be interested in following and lets them browse through the various categories of individuals and companies signed up to the website, reported Search Engine Land.