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"may become profitable for the first time next quarter after ... ramping up deals to sell its data to other companies" Cool, so any indication on who is buying

"may become profitable for the first time next quarter after ... ramping up deals to sell its data to other companies" Cool, so any indication on who is buying all my data?

Sir_Cmpwn 9y ago
Why trust their answer anyway? If this concerns you, you should switch to Mastodon.
- aantix 9y ago
  Mastodon looks promising. It definitely has traction.
cpeterso 9y ago
"ramping up deals to sell its data to other companies, which could help to break its reliance on advertising for revenue." i.e. "we don't know how to profit from this user data ourselves, so we'll sell it to people who know how."
- derefr 9y ago
  More like, “we’ve analyzed our data to death and know it’s not worth beans, but we don’t have to tell anyone else that, and there’s a sucker born every minute who thinks they can beat the stock market by squinting at this-or-that data firehose just right, so we’re happy to charge them for the attempt.”
deleted 9y ago
[deleted]
randomblob 9y ago
Also: What data is being bought? Publicly available information bundled up so there's not hassle with gathering it would be ok IMO. Private data would spark my interest as well. They can't be selling DMs, can't they?
- randomblob 9y ago
  If somebody says "Emails": What are they used for then by the buyer?
  - qznc 9y ago
    Things I can think of: Broadcast a tv spot, then measure how much hashtag mentions it generates. Find regions where people are more receptive to your product based on Twitter sentiment. Filter for stock mentions and use it for your trading bot.
- baddox 9y ago
  They used to sell the “firehose,” which I believe was a real-time feed of every single tweet (something not available from the normal API). I don’t know if that still exists.
  - knappe 9y ago
    Gnip used to do this. But twitter purchased them and now runs the product. This is still a thing.
  - pgwhalen 9y ago
    They do to some extent, there was a great talk at Strange Loop this year about the architecture of that system.
r721 9y ago
Some information is on this page: https://twitter.com/settings/your_twitter_data https://twitter.com/settings/your_twitter_data "Interests from partners Twitter's partners build audiences around shopping decisions, lifestyle, and other online and offline behaviors. Tailored audiences Tailored audiences are often built from email lists or browsing behaviors. They help advertisers reach prospective customers or people who have already expressed interest in their business."
jack6e 9y ago
I wonder if FBI/Secret Service swoop in to prevent the President's data from being sold in these cases. Or if they restrict its use/sale by other platforms as well.
- jonknee 9y ago
  He's made it clear that he values his phone more than he does national security, they don't have the ability to intercede.
  - jack6e 9y ago
    I am not saying they would take his phone or remove his account, but that they would restrict Twitter from using/selling his data.
    - jonwachob91 9y ago
      I doubt they'd single out his data, but twitter may restrict the sale of data for everyone with a lil check mark. (Just speculation).
    - jonknee 9y ago
      The feds don't have that ability either... Twitter could out of courtesy, but that would create a bad precedent.
stingraycharles 9y ago
They’ve acquired the company Gnip a few years ago, which then became the exclusive reseller of Twitter firehose data. Their biggest competitor is Datasift, which has similar exclusive deals with Facebook and Linkedin. There’s an incredibly big market here, with customers ranging from social media analytics companies to investment firms.
- radiorental 9y ago
  TIL marketing to bots is a thing. /s
  - jsonne 9y ago
    Like any other media platform there's advantages and disadvantages. Twitter is fantastic if you're trying to reach media professionals or developers in my experience.
- bayonetz 9y ago
  When they bought GNIP they ended their partnership with DataSift. It was a major blow to DataSift. It was a shrewd move on Twitter's part. My company switched over to using GNIP and our DataSift sales rep told us tons of other customers switched too and that he was leaving because of it.
  - stingraycharles 9y ago
    Yep, that’s correct. The recent lawsuit against LinkedIn about crawling [1] is interesting, though. It sets the precedent that third parties cannot be blocked from crawling, which technically means anyone could do this with Twitter as well. [1] https://www.theverge.com/2017/8/15/16148250/microsoft-linkedin-third-party-data-access-judge-ruling https://www.theverge.com/2017/8/15/16148250/microsoft-linked...
rockostrich 9y ago
I would assume they are selling data without personally identifiable information so it isn't your data. You are a set of data points that is aggregated with the millions of other users.

"may become profitable for the first time next quarter after ... ramping up deals to sell its data to other companies" Cool, so any indication on who is buying all my data?

Sir_Cmpwn 9y ago

Why trust their answer anyway? If this concerns you, you should switch to Mastodon.

aantix 9y ago
Mastodon looks promising. It definitely has traction.

cpeterso 9y ago

"ramping up deals to sell its data to other companies, which could help to break its reliance on advertising for revenue." i.e. "we don't know how to profit from this user data ourselves, so we'll sell it to people who know how."

derefr 9y ago
More like, “we’ve analyzed our data to death and know it’s not worth beans, but we don’t have to tell anyone else that, and there’s a sucker born every minute who thinks they can beat the stock market by squinting at this-or-that data firehose just right, so we’re happy to charge them for the attempt.”

deleted 9y ago

[deleted]

randomblob 9y ago

Also: What data is being bought? Publicly available information bundled up so there's not hassle with gathering it would be ok IMO. Private data would spark my interest as well. They can't be selling DMs, can't they?

randomblob 9y ago
If somebody says "Emails": What are they used for then by the buyer?
- qznc 9y ago
  Things I can think of: Broadcast a tv spot, then measure how much hashtag mentions it generates. Find regions where people are more receptive to your product based on Twitter sentiment. Filter for stock mentions and use it for your trading bot.
baddox 9y ago
They used to sell the “firehose,” which I believe was a real-time feed of every single tweet (something not available from the normal API). I don’t know if that still exists.
- knappe 9y ago
  Gnip used to do this. But twitter purchased them and now runs the product. This is still a thing.
- pgwhalen 9y ago
  They do to some extent, there was a great talk at Strange Loop this year about the architecture of that system.

r721 9y ago

Some information is on this page: https://twitter.com/settings/your_twitter_data https://twitter.com/settings/your_twitter_data "Interests from partners Twitter's partners build audiences around shopping decisions, lifestyle, and other online and offline behaviors. Tailored audiences Tailored audiences are often built from email lists or browsing behaviors. They help advertisers reach prospective customers or people who have already expressed interest in their business."

jack6e 9y ago

I wonder if FBI/Secret Service swoop in to prevent the President's data from being sold in these cases. Or if they restrict its use/sale by other platforms as well.

jonknee 9y ago
He's made it clear that he values his phone more than he does national security, they don't have the ability to intercede.
- jack6e 9y ago
  I am not saying they would take his phone or remove his account, but that they would restrict Twitter from using/selling his data.
  - jonwachob91 9y ago
    I doubt they'd single out his data, but twitter may restrict the sale of data for everyone with a lil check mark. (Just speculation).
  - jonknee 9y ago
    The feds don't have that ability either... Twitter could out of courtesy, but that would create a bad precedent.

stingraycharles 9y ago

They’ve acquired the company Gnip a few years ago, which then became the exclusive reseller of Twitter firehose data. Their biggest competitor is Datasift, which has similar exclusive deals with Facebook and Linkedin. There’s an incredibly big market here, with customers ranging from social media analytics companies to investment firms.

radiorental 9y ago
TIL marketing to bots is a thing. /s
- jsonne 9y ago
  Like any other media platform there's advantages and disadvantages. Twitter is fantastic if you're trying to reach media professionals or developers in my experience.
bayonetz 9y ago
When they bought GNIP they ended their partnership with DataSift. It was a major blow to DataSift. It was a shrewd move on Twitter's part. My company switched over to using GNIP and our DataSift sales rep told us tons of other customers switched too and that he was leaving because of it.
- stingraycharles 9y ago
  Yep, that’s correct. The recent lawsuit against LinkedIn about crawling [1] is interesting, though. It sets the precedent that third parties cannot be blocked from crawling, which technically means anyone could do this with Twitter as well. [1] https://www.theverge.com/2017/8/15/16148250/microsoft-linkedin-third-party-data-access-judge-ruling https://www.theverge.com/2017/8/15/16148250/microsoft-linked...

rockostrich 9y ago

I would assume they are selling data without personally identifiable information so it isn't your data. You are a set of data points that is aggregated with the millions of other users.