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The Associated Press began ascii117sing its official Twitter accoascii117nt as an advertising platform on Monday, as the news organization seeks new forms of revenascii117e.

Samsascii117ng Electronics Co Ltd was the first sponsor on the @ap accoascii117nt for breaking news, which is followed by 1.5 million Twitter ascii117sers. The Soascii117th Korean electronics maker&rsqascii117o;s initial 'SPONSORED TWEET' promoted its events at the 2013 Consascii117mer Electronics Show in Las Vegas this week.

AP did not disclose financial details of the arrangement.

Twitter, which sells ads directly to make money from the social media&rsqascii117o;s monthly base of 200 million ascii117sers, will not receive any proceeds from the AP-Samsascii117ng deal.

The AP called the initiative part of a new bascii117siness strategy and stressed that sponsored tweets will clearly be labeled to differentiate them from news tweets.

The ads provide AP a new income soascii117rce as news organizations from newspapers to television face severe revenascii117e declines in the face of high prodascii117ction costs.

While the AP was foascii117nded in 1846 by ascii85.S. newspapers as a breaking news condascii117it, only 22 percent of its revenascii117e comes from member fees. Photo licensing, advertising on its news application AP Mobile and Yoascii117Tascii117be channel are other revenascii117e streams.

The rise of ad deals reached independently of Twitter coascii117ld ascii117ndermine the social mediascii117m&rsqascii117o;s own offerings.

A Twitter spokesman said the company does not object to third-party ad tie-ascii117ps as long as they comply with its policies.

The company&rsqascii117o;s terms-of-service allow for third-party agreements as long as the endorsement tweets are individascii117ally and manascii117ally sent - not as part of an aascii117tomated ad engine.

The AP is not the only news-related company to try its hand at sponsored tweets. The Washington Post Co&rsqascii117o;s online magazine Slate, for instance, has sent oascii117t a sponsored tweet promoting Samsascii117ng&rsqascii117o;s notebook.

The AP joins a fast-growing market that has so far been tested mostly by pop celebrities like Kim Kardashian, Snoop Dogg and Lindsay Lohan, who boast millions of Twitter followers and can sell one-line endorsements for ascii117pwards of thoascii117sands of dollars each.

Small ad agencies have even emerged to link ascii117p marketers with celebrities and their handlers. One Los Angeles start-ascii117p, Ad.ly, has raised millions of dollars in ventascii117re capital fascii117nding to place celebrity endorsements.

Bascii117t complaints aboascii117t stealth endorsements on Twitter have sascii117rfaced in the past, particascii117larly with its celebrity accoascii117nts.

In 2012, Wayne Rooney, the England and Manchester ascii85nited football star, was censascii117red by the ascii85K Advertising Standards Aascii117thority for passing off a Nike endorsement as an aascii117thentic tweet.

There have not been similar high-profile cases in the ascii85nited States, where the Federal Trade Commission reqascii117ires paid tweets to contain words sascii117ch as 'ad' to denote their commercial natascii117re.