What Twitter's New App Data Collection Tactics Mean for Marketers

forbes.com

Social media marketing is a great way to reach out to customers. With the right approach, a brand can reach thousands of consumers with one post. However, many brands have a built-in audience of followers on their social media accounts, which means when they post something, it’s likely going to the same group of customers who already know about their offerings.

To reach new customers, many businesses have opted for paid advertising on some of the many social media platforms available today. Twitter is one of the most popular of those platforms, but the company has struggled to compete with Facebook’s and Google’s advertising options. However, with a new move, the company hopes to attract new attention from businesses.

Twitter’s Data Collection

Late last year, Twitter reportedly began collecting information on its users’ smartphones in order to arm advertisers with information they can use to successfully target customers. The company is not only studying customer behavior within its own app, but also learning from the apps they download. The social media site earns the majority of its advertising income from direct sales to brands, but the company didn’t meet expectations in its most recent quarter.

Twitter isn’t the first social media site to use customer smartphone data for its advertising efforts. When Facebook users download apps using their Facebook login, the social giant gathers that information and shares it with developers. But Twitter is using the information not only to learn more about its users for improved advertising effectiveness, but also to improve the recommendations it makes to users.

The Brand Connection

This move is designed to improve the experience for brand advertisers, giving them access to information about the site’s users. By knowing the types of apps the site’s users download, advertisers can more accurately target them based on their interests. The move will be especially beneficial for businesses with apps, allowing those businesses to more easily locate users who are likely to be interested in downloading the apps they’re creating.

Twitter users who are concerned about this information being collected can opt out in the settings area of Twitter. However, the good news for businesses is that the feature is turned on by default, which means that most users will leave it untouched. This will generally ensure the integrity of the information being collected.

How It Works

To make this feature work, Twitter is tapping into a feature that is built into iOS and Android devices. This feature allows developers to scan devices for other installed apps. This is a similar feature to spyware installed on a PC. While it’s limited in the information it will deliver back, it does give developers an easy way to generate a list of all of the apps installed on a person’s device. Many smartphone users aren’t aware this collection effort is even possible, much less taking place already. Twitter emphasizes it will only collect information on the apps on a user’s smartphone, not specific activities within those apps.

As awareness of this feature in iOS and Android devices grows, more companies are likely to follow Twitter and Facebook in finding ways to use it. This means advertisers will be able to more directly target customers. Device owners who choose not to opt out could receive ads for apps they’re likely to download, as well as products or services that match apps they’ve recently added.

For paid advertisers, Twitter’s app data collection means better targeting for their ad dollars. While this information won’t be directly handed over to marketers, it may eventually benefit marketers by recommending Twitter users that match their interests. At the moment, however, the biggest benefit to marketers is through Twitter’s paid advertising services.