Twitter, IBM to Harness Tweet Data for Business Cloud Services

Forget about all that Wall Street prediction model stuff. Between Google trends, Facebook friends and Twitter feeds everyone has gotten into the game of mining data to look for a future out of which they can make a buck.

But this venture is a bit more grounded, despite the fact that it will be hosted in The Cloud.

The point is to merge Twitter data with IBM's big iron to try to figure out how all of the data behind the data might be applied to more prosaic issues. Like what brands have advantages over their competitors and why. Or how certain ads appeal to certain consumers at certain times.

The significance is that this may be the most profound attempt to date to ascertain how to turn the intangible of information into the tangible of cash. JL

Don Clark and Yoree Koh report in the Wall Street Journal:

Would Allow Others to Integrate Data From Tweets Into Cloud Services Using Big Blue Tools

 

International Business Machines Corp. and Twitter Inc. announced a far-reaching alliance to apply data from the microblogging service to solve business problems.
The deal is designed to marry IBM’s analytics software and large consulting staff with the huge volumes of information Twitter generates about users’ action and opinions.
IBM will have access to the full public stream of tweets as they are posted, as well as all tweets generated since Twitter was founded in 2006, the companies said Wednesday. The data will be shared with IBM’s roughly 10,000 consultants to help solve client problems.
Big Blue and Twitter plan to work together to develop new applications and services based on the information. The companies said they would allow third-party developers to integrate Twitter data into new cloud services they build using IBM’s tools.
The two companies also plan jointly to develop offerings for specific industries, such as banking, retail, travel, transportation and consumer products.
The deal is IBM’s second major pact this year with a big name in Silicon Valley. IBM and Apple Inc. in July announced an agreement to create business apps and sell iPhones and iPads to IBM’s corporate customers.
The company recently has struggled to find new drivers for growth as revenue from its consulting and software businesses has slowed. Virginia Rometty , who became chief executive in early 2012, has identified the field known as big data as a cornerstone of her strategy. Related products include versions of the Watson data-analytics technology that became famous for winning the television game show “Jeopardy!”
Ms. Rometty said she personally negotiated with Dick Costolo, Twitter’s CEO, to forge the partnership. “Business decision- making will never be the same,” she said in a video shown at an event in Las Vegas where the partnership was disclosed.
“Businesses have only scratched the surface of what is possible” with Twitter data, Mr. Costolo said in a companion video.
Twitter has licensed its data to other companies but this year has become more aggressive in expanding that side of the business as it looks for new revenue streams besides advertising. Twitter stepped up the effort this spring by acquiring longtime data partner Gnip to offer more sophisticated analytics packages to advertisers.
On Monday, Twitter said data licensing and revenue from its mobile-advertising exchange accounted for $41 million of its $361 million in third-quarter revenue, up from $15.1 million for the categorya year earlier.
Chris Moody, the former Gnip CEO who is vice president in charge of Twitter’s data strategy, said customers interested in using its data want it integrated with analysis tools they use—like IBM’s—and to get help from consultants to use the information.
“We have very important relationships with major brands,” Mr. Moody said. “Many of those companies have asked us to help them be better and smarter.”
Customer service and support has been one of the primary ways that businesses have used Twitter. Airlines, retailers and hotels study customer tweets to learn about service or product quality.
People also see Twitter as an early-warning system for events and catastrophes. Last month, for example, Dataminr released a product to help news organizations mine Twitter data to spot breaking news faster.
One increasingly important application, Mr. Moody said, is for product planning and development. A major computer maker, he said, uses Twitter data about public opinions to help determine how many units of a new product to build.
Public safety could be another promising area for Twitter data, Mr. Moody said. An Australian university is studying whether tweets could help residents of Jakarta, Indonesia, to respond mor effectively to frequent flooding, he said.
Mr. Moody estimated that Twitter users generate one billion tweets every two days.
The Library of Congress, by contrast, has archived 55 million items over 250 years, he said. And most of the entries in the Library of Congress reflect the views of wealthy famous men, he said. “Twitter represents the views of the planet.”