For all those people thinking I’m a paranoid conspiracy theorist for talking about the ‘me at 20’ thing being a data grab, how do you think Twitter makes money? It starts with advertising, but in 2019 about 13.5% of its revenue was from ‘data licensing’. (Very short thread)
That means selling the rights to gather and analyse twitter data - allowing them to "access, search and analyze historical and real-time data". That’s what happens with hashtags, and one of the reasons Twitter encourages them. It makes the analysis easier. 2/n
Create a hashtag like ‘me at 20’ and you create a rich source of data. Not just the biometrics of the photos, but all kinds of other connections. It can be aggregated with other data, matched with more and so forth. 3/n
Note that this *isn’t* about doing specific, targeted ‘harm’ to the individual putting up their picture - though that might be possible - but about creating opportunities for analysis for all kinds of other uses. 4/n
I’m *not* being a tinfoil hat wearing conspiracy theorist, and I’m *not* suggesting you don’t do it, but it would be better if we do it with our eyes open, understanding what’s happening and what kind of trade-offs are being made. /ends
P.S. I sometimes *am* a tinfoil-hat-wearing conspiracy theorist.
P.P.S. In case you miss the point, and wonder *who* could be getting rich data from the ‘me at 20’ stuff, the answer is simple: anyone who pays Twitter to get access to it.
