Privacy Issues and Monetizing Twitter

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Table of Contents

Problems Faced by Twitter Trio
Data Privacy on the Internet and Threat to Privacy
Twitters Legal Requirements
How Customers/Users React to Twitter’s Proposal to Mine Its Clients’ Data
Monetizing Twitter
Options That the Trio Have
References

Problems Faced by Twitter Trio

A twitter is a social internet site, which allows users to send short text messages with a limit of 140 characters. The short messages are called tweets, and a twitter user seeks to have many followers as possible. Twitter users have been faced by many security problems, which is a threat to the Twitter trio.

Some of these problems are caused by links that are found on the twitter page. Some links directs users to unknown destinations. These links have commands for downloads which might destroy an individual’s or company’s data. More so, the links directs a user to malicious user’s sites. Some cookies are designed to be destructive because when it is saved on the hard disk it destroys useful information or data.

According to Ivey (2011), tweets written by users can also be searched using Google. This is a risk because the users feel that their tweets are being followed by investigators and hence they fear expressing their views in detail.

Hackers have been able to follow tweets from users, hence hacking passwords and interfering with private information, especially when it leads to a company’s sensitive information. Since anyone is able to follow and see what users are commenting, competitors have been able to follow up company’s secrets and at times even financial and investors information.

Since twitter users accounts enables them to follow other peoples accounts, hackers also create accounts and follows many users, hence the users follow them too without knowing whether the accounts are for malicious use. These malicious people enter the twitter network and seek to damage it as long as they follow thousands of the social network users.

As compared to other website accounts like Facebook, when you sign up an account, it is verified through the email address that a user has provided, but when you sign up a Twitter account, it does not verify the account through the email address that has been provided. This has enabled spammers to create some fraudulent networks and accounts on twitter.

It is recommended that personal information should not be added on Twitter because people can monitor user’s activities; there are cases where people have been robbed because of twitting their movements and activities, which led to buglers easily monitoring them. Despite the fact that a tweet is real time, destructive leaks of information about a company or an individual can travel all over the world in just seconds. This can damage a reputation which has been earned for years.

Shelly, Napier, and Rivers (2009) argue that Twitter unlike Facebook has many limitations because it allows a user to upload only one small picture. This is a major challenge to the three partners. Twitters interface is not friendly because when a user signs up for the first time, it is not easy to know what to do next.

As compared to other social networks, people struggle to have many followers and hence it creates some competition and it is sometimes not easy for a new user to get followers. It is advisable for a user to consider both advantages and disadvantages before signing up on twitter as a social network.

Data Privacy on the Internet and Threat to Privacy

Although the Internet has made communication easy with information and other activities meant for entertainment, security about the data storage use in the Internet has become a major concern because it is not easy to tell whether malicious people can access personal information.

Other issues are whether the websites visited are safe and how hackers can access a website data. The security threats are a major issue because many Internet users have been exposed to security threats. These threats may be instructions that are created by malicious persons and are designed to spread in the internet and cause damages to data on unprotected websites. Hackers access the systems through codes generated by programming operating systems (Laudon & Laudon, 2010).

Employers are now searching for information about the applicants on Twitter and other social networks without the applicant’s knowledge. Some are disqualified because of posting nude pictures and abusive messages on the social networks. There are cases where an employer rejected some applicant’s letters because they had posted discriminatory messages about racism. Data on social sites like Twitter and Facebook are difficult to delete, unless there is substantial privileges.

There is a time when the President of the United States Barrack Obama warned high school students about what they post on Facebook. The president believes that it is possible to access even deleted data on people’s accounts after many years. Many websites like PleaseRobMe has been developed to discourage those who access people’s private data, the hackers might fear that they are being tracked.

Data can be altered by malicious persons when being sent from one site to another. Viruses can also be a risk to private data because they can infect a computer. These viruses are passed on by storage devices such as flash disks which affect the networked computers. They are mostly programs which are created by people for destruction purposes.

Some have ability to replicate many times and clash the network system. These viruses include Trojan horse and spyware. Worms affects the performance of the computer and the system risks losing data. Some of these are meant to track a company’s data (Laudon & Laudon, 2010).

Data loss or privacy violation is either caused by human or machine error. The Internet has made communication easy in organizations whose branches are separated by geographical factors. With all the company’s information flowing from one computer to another through the Internet, secure transfer of data is an issue that has not been fully addressed.

Companies have failed to protect or monitor their data workflows and it has become susceptible to damage or illegal access. Internet users are also exposed to commercial advertisers when they give their personal information upon filling forms provided by some sites in the internet. The Internet technology has enabled advertisers to analyze and take peoples personal information. Users are usually not aware that their personal information is being accessed as well as unauthorized tracking of internet activities (Stair & Reynolds, 2008).

Website managers or operators are capable of storing information about people who have visited the website. There are instances where users are supposed to input their personal information to access the websites. The information is then stored in a database which keeps on recording those who have visited the website.

When the user’s information is profiled without the user’s knowledge, it raises privacy concerns. It is even worse if a company decides to profile employee’s health records on their website. When organizations fail to hide their unused data in a correct way, employees and other hackers may access its private information or it might be used in lawsuits. Moreover, shopping at the internet has raised a security concern since users fear that their personal information might be used in corrupt ways.

Twitters Legal Requirements

Twitter has failed in some of its legal requirements that govern its operations because some of organizations sensitive data such as investors and monetary data have been given away through tweets (Ivey, 2011). Organizations important information is being leaked through these online tweets.

Information such as patients details, which doctors keep on their computers or phones can be stolen and displayed on other social networks like Facebook or Google. Since these mobile phones or computers may not be encrypted, unauthorized persons can easily access data. Likewise, since Twitter is used around the globe, it has faced security privacy issues since each country has its own laws and the extent to which personal data is protected.

According to Twitter, children under the age of 13 are not allowed to have a Twitter account. However, Twitter has not been able to follow who uses its services, and hence children, even as young as 9 years, are on the social network, which exposes them to dreadful comments from Twitter users.

Additionally, Twitter has not been able to manage on who uses their network and it has violated laws that govern the creation of interactive sessions of celebrities where those who join the interactive session can obtain the celebrities private information without consent from the owner.

Data mining is a threat to users because Twitter stores personal information without authority from its users, although this has assisted the legal enforcers to get criminals by assessing behavior patterns in a given area.

Shelly, Napier, & Rivers (2009) suggest that this indicates that Twitter has not been able to secure personal information because they do not have systems that protect access to user’s data. Ford motor company is an example whose data was hacked. Its data contained customer’s information such as their account numbers, transactions details and address number.

How Customers/Users React to Twitter’s Proposal to Mine Its Clients’ Data

Ivey (2011) conforms that although data mining would increase Twitters revenue, customers would not want their data to be mined and especially those who would not like other users to access their private data. Some of the users would quit Twitter and create accounts in other social networks like Facebook, but it is not clear whether data is fully deleted when a user deactivates the account. Like in the case of Facebook, when a user deactivates his/her account, the data is still accessible.

However, some may be positive about data mining because some of the user’s main aim on Twitter is to read other users opinions, facts, and comments. The users can access and read other people’s feelings about a given topic, but some of the information might mislead them. Some users will also be able to read information about companies of their interest, especially when doing research.

Data mining will be to the advantage of companies or users who are doing business and are customer focused. It will enable them to know the goods mostly consumed by customers because they will be able to access transactional history.

According to Stair and Reynolds (2008), data is accessible since it is stored in classes of related groups; for example, in hotels, customer transaction data is recorded to identify the time that customers visit more and what they order most. When data is stored in clusters, it shows similar market sections. It can also be stored in a sequence to guides in customer’s behavior patterns. For example, Midwest grocery was able to study their customers buying patterns.

This company arrived to a conclusion that men came on Thursdays and some on Saturdays to buy diapers and they also bought beer. When the retailer found out those men bought diapers together with beer, they kept the bear close to the diapers on Thursdays and Saturdays. Data mining will also assist the users find financial organizations with loan and credit data. The financial institution can compare its customer’s qualities and assess the risks of loans granted (Laudon & Laudon, 2010).

Monetizing Twitter

According to the Twitter trio, both Microsoft and Google have many plans to monetize Twitter. They are planning to license Twitter’s real time search, and the company is hoping to make more money. Google and Microsoft will list billions of tweets, which are posted in monthly basis. Twitter should also come up with profile upgrades. These profiles will attract members who will also pay a fee for the upgrade, and Twitter and its marketers will get monetary gains.

Twitter should also increase the number of characters because its limit is 140 words and create more space for photos to attract more users. This is because many sport fans and other Twitter users are relying on the company’s services (Miller, 2010). Twitter should create more room for biographic data or seek assistance from Google since many users prefer amore friendly social site like Facebook, which allows a user to see friend’s photos and to upload many photos and store them on albums.

Ivey (2010) conforms that, just like Google and Yahoo, Twitter should seek to become a search engine. It will earn money when customers search for services and products. When, for example, a Twitter user posts a question about where to get a certain commodity, followers will reply while also informing others who might want to buy such commodities in future.

Twitter should also include tweets for job search, whereby the users are capable of posting their resumes. When users pay a fee to access the vacancies available and post resumes, it would earn Twitter more money. Similarly, employers looking for people to recruit should pay a fee to access the posted information from job seekers. It should also create and manage sites for outsourcing tasks where it creates jobs for online who may work in groups or as individuals.

Furthermore, Twitter should take advantage of getting people’s comments on a certain company; for example, performance and what the customers like or dislike. This will assist the company to get customers’ feedback about certain products and decide on improvements. The companies will be able to improve and change their products and services according to the customers needs and hence the companies should pay a fee to twitter for the service.

Likewise, Twitter should come up with an advertising strategy for companies. These companies may be charged on monthly basis or after 3 months. Individual users can also make money in Twitter by posting advertisements, especially when a user has many followers. A user can also search on advertisements and link them to followers who are interested in buying. Promotion is another way to make money where a user can promote upcoming products for a company to the followers.

Options That the Trio Have

The partners have an option to store user’s personal information, which will improve their competitive advantage. They want to come up with a big archive of user’s data. This will only be successful if they make sure that they have mined data with consent from users. Google and Microsoft has given permission to Twitter to post its tweets at the Google search, this will be easy for users searching for certain information. Users will benefit from real time messages and latest news.

Twitter attracts many users on the Google search. They have also come up with data mines that are likely to increase revenue on twitter because psychologists and other researchers will be able to get information, especially on behavior patterns of human beings. They will encourage people’s participation by not including their names, but only taking helpful information particularly for research purposes without including the names.

Twitter has also increased its income by making an agreement with Google and Microsoft to make it easy to search a blog service on the Internet. The company has been able to discuss with telecommunications sector to lower the costs and this will benefit twitter because it will increase its profitability (Ivey, 2011).

Twitter has another plan of archiving user’s information. Users have responded negatively, but the company has assured them safety of data. The users fear is that their tweets could be used against them. Twitter trio should come up with a plan to ensure that even if they archive the information, the government or any other party will not interfere with it because users might think that FBI is following them.

Microsoft has started Microsoft helps, which is a twitter tool that supports users through information on Windows 7. This real time information will be checked by Microsoft while also supporting customers. Using Twitter, customers are capable of accessing help online and in real time.

They will also be able to bring about issues or problems encountered when using Windows 7. However, there are privacy concerns for the trio because the crackers are out to destroy data, especially when mining. SalesForce is an example of a company that allowed businesses to access conversations on Twitter and take important information. If a customer has a question about computers, SalesForce informs computer companies about the client.

The partners, being highly supported by Google, are coming up with ways that will enable users to protect their personal data. Some users on Twitter are exposed to cookies, which direct them to unknown sites. Twitter users can no longer trust the company because it is not able to protect the users’ data.

Both Microsoft and Google are supporting Twitter in its real-time messaging. Users have confessed that they get many insights from other users since it involves sharing with different users around the globe. Twitter may provide information not found on Google because it involves asking more people and the network in real-time. Google has not been successful in creating interactive sessions like twitter. In case of any latest news such as plane crush, Twitter displays them in real time while Google may take some hours.

Both Google and Twitter are working together to improve on their business model. Twitter is a poor search engine; Google has decided to post its tweets since Google is poor on social matters, and hence it has considered having tweets so that users can see real time comments. Combining of the two features that mainly focuses on search micro-blogging and messaging services found in these social networks will increase their monetary value.

In essence, Twitter is turning out to be a place where users do business and it is increasingly growing in ecommerce because as users follow each other on their accounts, it is easy to promote products and services. It has been greatly favored because of its real-time characteristic, and this is a blessing to the Twitter trio.

References

Biskup, J. (2009). Security in Computer Systems, Challenges, Approaches and Solutions. Heidelberg: Springer-Verlag.

Ivey. (2011). Privacy Issues and Monetizing Twitter. London: Richard Ivey School of Business Foundation, 2011-04-15. 9B11E002.

Laudon, K.C., & Laudon, J.P. (2010). Management Information Systems: Managing the Digital Firm (11th ed.). New Jersey: Prentice Hall.

Miller, C. C. (2010, June 18). Sports Fans Break Records on Twitter. The New York Times. Retrieved from https://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/06/18/sports-fans-break-records-on-twitter/?mtrref=undefined&gwh=993DB9C58627C72733D0FB968A58745D&gwt=pay

Shelly, G.B., Napier, H.A, & Rivers, O. (2009). Discovering the Internet: Complete Concepts and Techniques (3rd ed.). Boston: Cengage Learning, Inc.

Stair, R. & Reynolds, G. (2008). Fundamentals of Information Systems (5th ed.). Hamilton, CA: Thomson Course Technology.

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