Twitter Cuts Off All Ties With Third Party Data Resellers

Twitter seems to have been hungrier for revenue of late. It has clearly shown as the company pushed its limits to expand in business areas such as commerce and advertising. Now it seems to have turned its attention to big data business. An announcement made this past week confirmed that Twitter will cut off ties with all data resellers.

The implication of that decision is quite simple; third parties such as data resellers will have no more access to Twitter’s firehose data that includes a comprehensive pool of tweets. Twitter plans on using an in-house analytics team in order to directly form ties with data companies that are adept at studying market trends and measuring consumer sentiment. Twitter put together this team during the time when it acquired Gnip, another firehose reseller, last year.

dData resellers will have no more access to Twitter’s firehose data that includes a comprehensive pool of tweets

It seems like DataSift is more disappointed by the decision than anyone else. That disappointment is understandable given that the company is largely affected in the sense that it serves a number of different businesses which themselves serve plenty more. CEO DataSift, Nick Halstead, expressed how the company was taken aback by the surprise announcement, especially considering the two had been in talks regarding renewal of their deal.

A move such as this especially hurts more given its timing. DataSift happens to be in the process of raising funds for the startup. So far it has raised about $78 million and it surely hoped to raise a lot more with Twitter as part of the ecosystem. Those who have been closely monitoring Twitter’s moves since the past year or so, including the acquisition of Gnip, would have realized it was ready to take charge of its operations. Thus, this may actually not have come as a surprise to all.

It all boils down to the prospect of more money for Twitter and third party partners are not happy

The head of Twitter ecosystem, Zach Hofter-Shall went public to justify this move as a means of having direct relationships with customers. He mentioned how it assists the company understand users better and acquire direct feedback that help better decision making. In essence, it all boils down to the prospect of more money for the company. With DataSift out of the way, Twitter has an opportunity to generate more revenue as it creates a closed market and finds more methods to monetize.



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