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IBM throws Twitter's firehose into the Bluemix
Avian network improves its ratting-out features
IBM has revealed one of the first things it plans to do with Twitter's firehose of data: let you point it at its cloudy Bluemix analytics service to find stuff out.
Big Blue reckons its role is to help customers “apply social data to business decisions”. One scenario it advances for this kind of thing is analysis of Tweets from loyal restaurant customers who are finicky about their favourites. In a finding that may not come as a colossal surprise, such Tweeters/customers get upset, and Tweet it, when restaurant staff move on.
You can find that kind of stuff out too, now, because IBM's hooked the Twitter firehose to cloudy analytics offerings. You don't need to wrangle the firehose, just figure out how to drive IBM analytics.
IBM's new services were announced on the same day Twitter introduced a feature it says “makes it easier for you to report threats that you feel may warrant attention from law enforcement”. It's already possible to report offensive Tweets. Twitter's now made it possible to email yourself a record of the offensive Tweet when you make a report. The reports offer what looks like a dense audit trail of just who Tweeted what, when, and to whom. The idea seems to be that a nicely detailed email will make it easier to escalate online incidents to law enforcement authorities, should you wish to do so.
Hey, IBM: got any insights into how to stop people being mean to us on Twitter? ®