Many of you will know that Twitter unexpectedly cancelled it’s [sic] contract to allow DataSift to resell Twitter data to 3rd parties. I read the declarations by industry analysts on Twitter that this was “proof that you can’t build a business on somebody else’s platform” and perhaps DataSift should have known better.
There’s been plenty of chatter over the weekend, following the announcement that Twitter was cancelling a contract that gave DataSift the right to access, analyse and resell data from the Twitter ‘firehose.’
The other company with similar rights – Gnip – was acquired by Twitter almost exactly a year ago, so in some ways it was just a matter of time before DataSift was locked out… or asked to pay a lot more.
Mark Suster’s Upfront Ventures is an investor in DataSift, and in this post he offers some facts in place of the stream of speculation elsewhere.
And the idea that you “can’t build a business on somebody else’s platform” is ludicrous. That’s what a platform is! Something that other people feel confident and able to build upon. Pulling moves like this will quickly make potential builders on your platform think twice, though… so you better be sure you have a better revenue stream and attention model before you do it, Twitter…
