We covered the initial launch of DataSift in August last year, and then in July this year we reported on its $6m funding boost, and then followed this up by interviewing founder Nick Halstead, the man who also founded TweetMeme.
Today sees the official launch of DataSift in the US, as well as the full public launch of its website, and its headquarters will be based in San Francisco.
If you’re new to DataSift, it’s a real-time social media data-filtering platform. Companies can use it to filter large volumes of social media information in real-time go gain insight into how they’re being perceived on the social Web. DataSift filters conversations from sources like Twitter and captures any content that fits user-defined specifically selected criteria. The data can be filtered demographically, including controlling for gender, location and even influence based on Klout score. DataSift can also determine sentiment – whether the conversations in social media are generally positive or negative towards any given topic.
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Halstead started developing DataSift in 2007 after his success with TweetMeme, the company behind the Retweet button. He realized that there was a big demand to access social data, and so DataSift was created to give companies and developers the chance to define their own searches in real-time and buy data “on demand”.
“Social media has amplified the already fast-paced nature of business today. Companies don’t have the luxury to sift through hundreds of millions of data streams every day, only to second guess the appropriate action,” said Halstead. “What they need is definitive access to real-time intelligence that is impactful to their business – allowing them to easily and quickly detect and respond to major trending events, social behaviors, customer preferences – and ultimately, avert any impending crises. We have been amazed with the demand for our platform in the US and are opening an office to cater to this demand.”
DataSift is one of only two companies – the other being Gnip – that are globally licensed to re-sell Twitter’s firehose of data. Whilst Gnip focuses on ‘large bulk data’, DataSift’s remit is to help users filter data from Twitter to identify the information that’s relevant to them.
“DataSift’s expansion shows the market for insights into Twitter’s real-time data is growing and producing thriving businesses,” said Ryan Sarver, Director of Platform at Twitter. “Now, more developers than ever can meet increasing market demands by filtering 250 million tweets a day into instantly actionable information.”
Meanwhile, check our interview with Nick Halstead from earlier this year:
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