7 ms·

Why Twitter's t.co is a game changer

36 points by sant0sk1 16y ago

xutopia 16y ago
Alistair is spot on t.co. It will allow Twitter to better track traffic and they'll be able to sell this information to third parties.
- points 16y ago
  Who do you sell it to?
  - maukdaddy 16y ago
    Businesses with deep enough pockets.
  - dododo 16y ago
    amazon, for example, already sells similar information: http://aws.amazon.com/alexatopsites/#pricing http://aws.amazon.com/alexatopsites/#pricing
binarysoul 16y ago
I'm not sure how this is fundamentally different than twitter integrating with something like bit.ly Alistair expects us to believe that bit.ly was sharing no tracking / analytics information with twitter?
- netaddict 16y ago
  You are right. bitly did tracking and analytics. But Twitter can have even more information by forcing all users to use t.co. The point of the article is that Twitter can force every one to use t.co on its platform and thus provide better analytics, malware detection etc than its competitors. It is a game changer for Twitter monetization; not so much for users or content creators.
  - alecco 16y ago
    > It is a game changer for Twitter monetization; not so much for users or content creators. Preview of shortened urls seems like a very good feature for users.
  - RyanMcGreal 16y ago
    >Twitter can have even more information by forcing all users to use t.co. I suspect they'd end up with a lot less information if they tried this.
    - gojomo 16y ago
      It seems they're planning a soft-force: all URLs will be converted to t.co in outbound tweets, but the original shortener will still be visible in some presentations, and t.co will still redirect through the original shortener -- so sites providing some unique value to users still work. I can't see a major user revolt over that approach -- even though in the long run it gives t.co such an advantage that other services may whither away.
tlrobinson 16y ago
"Twitter could turn #coffee into #starbucks." Yeah, I'd like to see them try that.
- notahacker 16y ago
  They could have done that a long time ago. If they'd wanted to lose their user base overnight. Same goes for any tomfoolery with shorturls. Other than wrecking bit.ly's market share, I don't see t.co changing much.
  - tlrobinson 16y ago
    If it wasn't obvious, I was being sarcastic. Actually I sort of would like to see them try, just for the entertainment of watching a fiasco 10x worse than Facebook Beacon unfold.
decadentcactus 16y ago
So I may just be still waking up from sleeping pills, but most of this article seems like a lot of potential things without much actual direction/decisiveness. Yes, Twitter CAN do a lot of this, CAN track 500 things and sell them to "businesses" (who? why?) > This is the real value of the company -- not just knowing what people are talking about, but knowing which things prompt an action, wherever that happens. And then what? What do you do with that? It feels like this is the same as saying "We'll get millions of users, THEN figure out how to make money". Except we're a step forward from that, having a flimsy plan (Sell the "purpose" of visitors to "businesses" who can "use it" to "whatever") with still no idea of how to do it.
Splines 16y ago
I'm all for a business trying to do... business, but all this talk of monetizing links, engagement, and the "long funnel" is a little irritating. I feel like I'm begin treated like cattle. It's stuff like this that makes me wonder if it's possible to build a de-shortener service.
RexRollman 16y ago
Personaly, I refuse to click on any shortened URIs, especially when using a Windows box. I just don't care for them.

36 points by sant0sk1 16y ago

Alistair is spot on t.co. It will allow Twitter to better track traffic and they'll be able to sell this information to third parties.

points 16y ago
Who do you sell it to?
- maukdaddy 16y ago
  Businesses with deep enough pockets.
- dododo 16y ago
  amazon, for example, already sells similar information: http://aws.amazon.com/alexatopsites/#pricing http://aws.amazon.com/alexatopsites/#pricing

binarysoul 16y ago

I'm not sure how this is fundamentally different than twitter integrating with something like bit.ly Alistair expects us to believe that bit.ly was sharing no tracking / analytics information with twitter?

netaddict 16y ago
You are right. bitly did tracking and analytics. But Twitter can have even more information by forcing all users to use t.co. The point of the article is that Twitter can force every one to use t.co on its platform and thus provide better analytics, malware detection etc than its competitors. It is a game changer for Twitter monetization; not so much for users or content creators.
- alecco 16y ago
  > It is a game changer for Twitter monetization; not so much for users or content creators. Preview of shortened urls seems like a very good feature for users.
- RyanMcGreal 16y ago
  >Twitter can have even more information by forcing all users to use t.co. I suspect they'd end up with a lot less information if they tried this.
  - gojomo 16y ago
    It seems they're planning a soft-force: all URLs will be converted to t.co in outbound tweets, but the original shortener will still be visible in some presentations, and t.co will still redirect through the original shortener -- so sites providing some unique value to users still work. I can't see a major user revolt over that approach -- even though in the long run it gives t.co such an advantage that other services may whither away.

tlrobinson 16y ago

"Twitter could turn #coffee into #starbucks." Yeah, I'd like to see them try that.

notahacker 16y ago
They could have done that a long time ago. If they'd wanted to lose their user base overnight. Same goes for any tomfoolery with shorturls. Other than wrecking bit.ly's market share, I don't see t.co changing much.
- tlrobinson 16y ago
  If it wasn't obvious, I was being sarcastic. Actually I sort of would like to see them try, just for the entertainment of watching a fiasco 10x worse than Facebook Beacon unfold.

decadentcactus 16y ago

So I may just be still waking up from sleeping pills, but most of this article seems like a lot of potential things without much actual direction/decisiveness. Yes, Twitter CAN do a lot of this, CAN track 500 things and sell them to "businesses" (who? why?) > This is the real value of the company -- not just knowing what people are talking about, but knowing which things prompt an action, wherever that happens. And then what? What do you do with that? It feels like this is the same as saying "We'll get millions of users, THEN figure out how to make money". Except we're a step forward from that, having a flimsy plan (Sell the "purpose" of visitors to "businesses" who can "use it" to "whatever") with still no idea of how to do it.

Splines 16y ago

I'm all for a business trying to do... business, but all this talk of monetizing links, engagement, and the "long funnel" is a little irritating. I feel like I'm begin treated like cattle. It's stuff like this that makes me wonder if it's possible to build a de-shortener service.

RexRollman 16y ago

Personaly, I refuse to click on any shortened URIs, especially when using a Windows box. I just don't care for them.