4 ms·

"applies these same high-powered analytics to relate [...] events broadcast on TV to conversations taking place in social media" So, if you use Twitter, you're

by nhebb 15y ago

"applies these same high-powered analytics to relate [...] events broadcast on TV to conversations taking place in social media" So, if you use Twitter, you're someone's lab rat. I know that when I tweet, it's open for all the world to see, but I can't shake the feeling that this is really creepy. Beyond that, I'm trying to envision how this data could be used. I imagine three scenarios: 1. Leverage it to sell more TV advertising. If a show is getting buzz on twitter, maybe this could be a viable alternative to Nielsen ratings. (Which leads to the question of whether Blue Fin can discern positive buzz from negative buzz). 2. If step 1 is analysis, could step 2 be manipulation? Can buzz be jump started or boosted at key inflection points by sock puppet marketing? 3. C-level eye candy - interesting visualizations that TV exec's buy for their egos, but ultimately can't do anything actionable with the information.

SoftwareMaven 15y ago
Engagement is meaningless without knowing the sentiment behind that engagement. It's easy to see how many people are talking about your product (and it's not just TV producers who care about their product in this way); what is harder is to find out if they like it or not. You present it as creepy, but (as long as we are only talking about public data like Twitter) I welcome it. The better the analysis, the better product developers can do at creating products I actually want. The danger for product developers is always building products that are just slight tweaks of the previous product (see the movie industry for example).
samstave 15y ago
I think that it will be used in more sinister ways. They will provide information on how to make political speeches and propaganda more influential and how to get main stream media stories to be better believed. There has already been a statement on the particular psychological tricks Obama uses in his speeches - I can only see this being used to strengthen that.
- radicaldreamer 15y ago
  Haven't politicians, leaders, and many others in positions of authority been doing this for millennia? People have been studying this (rhetoric) since ancient Greece.
joejohnson 15y ago
I feel like either the data Twitter has isn't actually that valuable, or Twitter is just sitting on a goldmine and they are refusing to show their hand too soon. I say this because they're still not profitable, but I predict that if they do become a large financial success, it won't be through existing ad-revenue models (or maybe even ads). Twitter could monetize in countless ways with their powerful information base.
jaredmck 15y ago
Unless they're sandbagging the spam filtering right now, there's no way twitter is close to tapping into the potentially huge value of their data. I'd love to see them turn the data into huge value and insight, but they'll need to show a lot more before this outcome is likely.
blahedo 15y ago
> So, if you use Twitter, you're someone's lab rat. Among others, Noah Smith's (and his grad students'): http://www.ark.cs.cmu.edu/ http://www.ark.cs.cmu.edu/

by nhebb 15y ago

SoftwareMaven 15y ago

Engagement is meaningless without knowing the sentiment behind that engagement. It's easy to see how many people are talking about your product (and it's not just TV producers who care about their product in this way); what is harder is to find out if they like it or not. You present it as creepy, but (as long as we are only talking about public data like Twitter) I welcome it. The better the analysis, the better product developers can do at creating products I actually want. The danger for product developers is always building products that are just slight tweaks of the previous product (see the movie industry for example).

samstave 15y ago

I think that it will be used in more sinister ways. They will provide information on how to make political speeches and propaganda more influential and how to get main stream media stories to be better believed. There has already been a statement on the particular psychological tricks Obama uses in his speeches - I can only see this being used to strengthen that.

radicaldreamer 15y ago
Haven't politicians, leaders, and many others in positions of authority been doing this for millennia? People have been studying this (rhetoric) since ancient Greece.

joejohnson 15y ago

I feel like either the data Twitter has isn't actually that valuable, or Twitter is just sitting on a goldmine and they are refusing to show their hand too soon. I say this because they're still not profitable, but I predict that if they do become a large financial success, it won't be through existing ad-revenue models (or maybe even ads). Twitter could monetize in countless ways with their powerful information base.

jaredmck 15y ago

Unless they're sandbagging the spam filtering right now, there's no way twitter is close to tapping into the potentially huge value of their data. I'd love to see them turn the data into huge value and insight, but they'll need to show a lot more before this outcome is likely.

blahedo 15y ago

> So, if you use Twitter, you're someone's lab rat. Among others, Noah Smith's (and his grad students'): http://www.ark.cs.cmu.edu/ http://www.ark.cs.cmu.edu/