April 17, 2014

Twitter acquires social data analytics firm Gnip

It was announced recently that Twitter has acquired social data analytics firm Gnip, according to Mashable. Although the terms of the acquisition were not disclosed, the merger will allow Twitter to provide data to customers in a variety of industries. 

During the companies' four-year partnership, Gnip analyzed data from tweets and delivered 2.3 trillion tweets to customers during this time. This data has been advantageous to many industries such as finance, intelligence, public relations and marketing. The powerful insights gained from this data can help companies to see trends and customer behavior. According to Wired, selling this data could help Twitter monetize.

Gnip's collaboration with Twitter has helped allow organizations gain valuable insights from the 500 million tweets sent out on Twitter on a daily basis. The merger shows that Twitter recognizes the many potential uses for social data and is making a bigger investment in it.

"We want to make our data even more accessible, and the best way to do that is to work directly with our customers to get a better understanding of their needs. To that end, we have agreed to acquire Gnip, a leading provider of social data and a long-standing Twitter data partner," said Jana Messerschmidt, VP, Global Business Development and Platform on Twitter's blog. 

Through this acquisition strategy, Twitter has plans to expand on what Gnip has already been doing with data, by increasing Twitter's data offerings. 

"This acquisition signals clear recognition that investments in social data are healthier than ever. Our customers can continue to build and innovate on one of the world's largest and most trusted providers of social data and the foundation for innovation is now even stronger," said Chris Moody, Gnip CEO, on the company's blog.

Twitter also recently acquired Cover, the maker of a lockscreen app for Android smart phones.