• TechCrunch, Wednesday, July 14, 2010 12:55 PM

To promote "The Sorcerer's Apprentice," Walt Disney Pictures and Jerry Bruckheimer Films are officially the first partners to test out Twitter's new ecommerce deal product @EarlyBird. "Twitter is partnering with advertisers to distribute offers via the @EarlyBird account, and they get to determine the terms of the offer, including availability, amount, and pricing," reports TechCrunch.

Deals will be published via the @EarlyBird handle several times a week, with more deals to come. The get the service off the ground, Twitter is working directly with social buying startup Groupon and "invite-only" sample sale site Gilt. "We originally thought that EarlyBird woud [sic] be a competitor to deal sites like Groupon and Gilt but it turns out that it's actually a complimentary channel," TechCrunch notes. EarlyBird already has nearly 50,000 followers, which is expected to grow rapidly.

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