Twitter

Alright so have you ever asked yourselves, how sites like facebook and myspace make money. Well as you know most sites put up ads and have links to other sites; to check out their latest product or sell you some other sort of ware. Well, this got me thinking about Twitter, i personally do not have a Twitter account and it was mainly because i did not understand what it was, now I know. Twitter is a money making machine, do you want to know why...read on.

Unlike face book or myspace, who generate revenue from selling ad space on their site which generates traffic for other sites. Twitter may actually share your personal information with third parties. Don't believe me huh, well I am not sure about everyone else, but I sometimes read the privacy policy before I sign up for any site on the net. This is straight off the Twitter web site.

Service Providers/ We engage certain trusted third parties to perform functions and provide services to us, including, without limitation, hosting and maintenance, customer relationship, database storage and management, and direct marketing campaigns. We will share your personally identifiable information with these third parties, but only to the extent necessary to perform these functions and provide such services, and only pursuant to binding contractual obligations requiring such third parties to maintain the privacy and security of your data.

Twitter Privacy

I figure I should let those of you who ask me, "why I have not signed up for a Twitter account?", know what they are actually doing by having a Twitter account. Still don't want to cancel your Twitter account after reading that last piece of information, well here is a little more info for ya.

Compliance with Laws and Law Enforcement/ Twitter cooperates with government and law enforcement officials or private parties to enforce and comply with the law. We may disclose any information about you to government or law enforcement officials or private parties as we, in our sole discretion, believe necessary or appropriate to respond to claims, legal process (including subpoenas), to protect the property and rights of Twitter or a third party, the safety of the public or any person, to prevent or stop any illegal, unethical, or legally actionable activity, or to comply with the law.

Still with me?...This is also in the privacy statement. So say, after the phils lose a game you happen to twitter that you want to kill a certain member of the other team. Can this be used as evidence of conspiracy or malice?

Malice

–noun 1. desire to inflict injury, harm, or suffering on another, either because of a hostile impulse or out of deep-seated meanness: the malice and spite of a lifelong enemy.

Conspiracy

Law. an agreement by two or more persons to commit a crime, fraud, or other wrongful act.

Just as an Example...Want to hear more...

Business Transfers/ Twitter may sell, transfer or otherwise share some or all of its assets, including your personally identifiable information, in connection with a merger, acquisition, reorganization or sale of assets or in the event of bankruptcy. You will have the opportunity to opt out of any such transfer if the new entity's planned processing of your information differs materially from that set forth in this Privacy Policy.

Okay, little scenario okay so if a year down the road twitter sells to a large media group or something. Does said, "large media group" then get all your information?

Unless you missed your opportunity to opt out...

Stats on Twitter currently:

Stats



THE FACEBOOK/MYSPACE DEBATE

A couple people have talked to me saying well facebook and myspace do the same thing. No they do not, sites like Facebook and Myspace rely on outside advertisers for a part of thier revenue. Take alook at the differance in the privacy policies.

FACEBOOK

Facebook may use information in your profile without identifying you as an individual to third parties. We do this for purposes such as aggregating how many people in a network like a band or movie and personalizing advertisements and promotions so that we can provide you Facebook. We believe this benefits you. You can know more about the world around you and, where there are advertisements, they're more likely to be interesting to you. For example, if you put a favorite movie in your profile, we might serve you an advertisement highlighting a screening of a similar one in your town. But we don't tell the movie company who you are.

This is the short version...check the link for the full privacy policy.

FACEBOOK PRIVACY POLICY

MYSPACE

MySpace will only use the PII you provide under this Privacy Policy in a manner that is consistent with this Privacy Policy. If MySpace obtains PII from a third party, such as a business partner, our use of that information is also governed by this Privacy Policy.

In order to locate other MySpace Members that you may already know in the physical world, MySpace allows Users to search for Members using Registration PII (i.e., full name or email address). MySpace also allows Users to browse for certain Profile Information in order to help connect with Members (i.e., schools and/or companies where Users may have attended or worked). MySpace may also enable Members to publicly display some Registration PII as an element of their Profile Information if they choose to do so via a profile setting under “Edit Profile.” Search engines may index the portion of a Member’s profile (including the Profile Information it contains) that is publicly displayed.

If you have consented to receive promotional materials (e.g., newsletters) or notifications from MySpace, MySpace may periodically use your email address to send you such materials related to the MySpace Services, as applicable. If you want to stop receiving such materials from MySpace, you can change your profile settings under “Account Settings,” or follow the unsubscribe instructions at the bottom of each email.

MySpace employees, agents and contractors must have a business reason to obtain access to your PII. MySpace may share your PII with those who help us manage or provide MySpace Services’ information activities (for example, message board administration, order fulfillment, statistical analyses, data processing), or with outside contractors, agents or sponsors who help us with the administration, judging and prize fulfillment aspects of contests, promotions and sweepstakes.

These outside contractors, agents or sponsors may temporarily store some information on their servers, but they may only use your PII to provide MySpace with a specific service and not for any other purpose. MySpace may also provide your PII to a third party in those instances where you have chosen to receive certain information and have been notified that the fulfillment of such a request requires the sharing of your PII. MySpace also may share your PII with Affiliated Companies if it has a business reason to do so.

MYSPACE PRIVACY POLICY


And now... Twitter

Service Providers We engage certain trusted third parties to perform functions and provide services to us, including, without limitation, hosting and maintenance, customer relationship, database storage and management, and direct marketing campaigns. We will share your personally identifiable information with these third parties, but only to the extent necessary to perform these functions and provide such services, and only pursuant to binding contractual obligations requiring such third parties to maintain the privacy and security of your data.

TWITTER PRIVACY POLICY

Just being a concerned citizen. Enjoy!

Kevin G