Business Intelligence in Tweets?

March 15, 2012

Six-year old Twitter has lot of credibility when it comes to knowing what people want. The social-networking site is serving up around 350 million tweets a day and that number is constantly growing. For businesses, that number means real-time analytics and activity from potential and current customers.

Mike Brown, current director of corporate development at Twitter, recently spoke at the CITE Conference and commented that the company is “the ultimate business intelligence tool.” This is because of Twitter’s ability to give a peak into what customers and competitors are saying, and the company plans to get more innovative on tracking activity and providing data analytics—with plans for advanced GPS sensors and targeted proactive advertisements for users.

A recent Computer World article, “Twitter Exec Calls Tweets the ‘Ultimate Business Intelligence Tool,” provides more insight from Brown on the importance of using Twitter in the business environment. The article states:

‘One of my favorite Twitter accounts, …because he just joined recently, is Rupert Murdoch,’ Brown said. ‘Whether you subscribe to his politics or not, the guy tells it like he thinks it and you really get that sense when you read his tweets. ‘I think whether you’re a brand or a marketer or a small business owner, [you need] to talk with an authentic voice that feels like your own, [one] your customers know,’ he said. ‘Your customer’s BS meter is pretty good. Don’t hand off your Twitter to your PR agency or even an intern who’s going to be with your business for a short while.’

Interesting advice. So, is the “ultimate business intelligence tool” statement by Brown self-serving? Nah, we think not. The assumption is a simple, fair, and par for the course. Note that raw tweet data can now be bought from companies like DataSift and Gnip. Everyone is starting to recognize the impact of tweets.

Andrea Hayden, March 15, 2012

Comments

Comments are closed.

Search the site
Subscribe to Beyond Search
Feature archive
News archive

Stephen E. Arnold monitors search, content processing, text mining and related topics from his high-tech nerve center in rural Kentucky. He tries to winnow the goose feathers from the giblets. He works with colleagues worldwide to make this Web log useful to those who want to go "beyond search". Contact him at sa [at] arnoldit.com. His Web site with additional information about search is arnoldit.com.