In a following move when the time Twitter cut off third-party app developers, the biggest microblogging social media company has decided to take back control of who has access its its real-time tweet data which known as the firehose.
The real-time firehose data was previously made available to three authorized third-party resellers including Gnip (which Twitter acquired last year), Datasift and NTT Data. However, starting in August of this year, Twitter will keep all of its data customers to its own platform and customers will need to pay Twitter directly for access.
According to DataSift’s representative, Nick Halstead, the move won’t bring negative impact his company, thanks to a recent deal with Facebook, as well as the brand’s focus on extending its reach into business-owned data. On the other hand, it could damage the Twitter ecosystem.
While Halstead seems confident, it’s hard to see how Twitter’s move won’t cause an impact towards the company. Datasift currently powers an ecosystem of 1,000 companies on its own using (in part) the Twitter firehose data, enterprises and marketing agencies who embed it into commercial applications that they then resell. The “customers of our customers” span into tens of thousands and “not only benefit those brands, but also the social networks themselves.”
“Twitter also demonstrated that it doesn’t understand the basic rules of this market: social networks make money from engagement and advertising,” said Halstead.
Revenue from data should be a secondary concern to distribution and it should occur only in a privacy-safe way. Better understanding of their audiences means more engagement and more ad spend from brands. After all, more noise equals less ad spend.