Man, the lack of knowledge on how to properly post links on DU really gets under my skin, sorry ...

[jpljr77]

23. Those URL strings don't "pay" Twitter. It's tracking code the publication uses.

In this particular case, the folks at NJ.com are using Google's UTM tracking code to determine where their traffic is coming from. It's a 100% certainty that they posted this story themselves on Twitter, in their free account, and they are trying to see how effective that was (vs. Facebook vs. Instagram vs. clicking from their home page vs. emails, etc.).

And it should be noted: The publication creates this code, not Twitter.

Twitter does have paid placements, of course, but that would almost always be noted in the Campaign field of the tracking code. This campaign, "njdotcom," is probably just their marker for everyday news posts (after all, ALL media outlets post articles to Twitter on a daily basis).

Now, copying that URL as is and posting it somewhere else, like Democratic Underground, WILL skew the numbers for the NJ.com marketing team. It will appear as if more traffic is coming from Twitter because each time someone from DU clicks it, it will count the same way.

But in this case, and in most cases involving media sites, there is no money being exchanged. They're just trying to track where their readers are.