Social media data 'very useful to online marketers'

15:00 24th December 2009

Data generated on social media sites such as Twitter is very useful for online marketers, if one commentator is to be believed.

Chief operating officer and co-founder of Aster Data Mayank Bawa said collating users' opinions is a good way of gauging topics of popular interest and generating public policy.

He remarked: "Selling data for marketing [using web services] is sensible."

The commentator predicted more firms will strike these types of deals in the coming months and years.

Mr Bawa was reacting to recent media reports that Twitter is set to turn its growing user base into increased profits.

Bloomberg reported on Monday (December 21st 2009) that the micro-blogging portal will turn over $25 million (£15.63 million) this year through search deals with Google ($15 million) and Microsoft's Bing ($10 million).

The news provider has calculated the site's operating costs are between $20 million and $25 million each year, meaning the company is likely to be pushed into profitability.

According to the article, employee wages are the firm's biggest outgoing – its site states there are currently 105 people on the payroll.

Meanwhile, analytics company compete.com revealed Twitter had 131,415,364 unique visitors in December.

The site's yearly growth rate stands at 546.35 per cent.