Companies Are Using Social Media Data

Companies are mining the social web to build dossiers on the people. Information posted publicly on blogs, Facebook, Twitter, forums and other sites is fair game. It is yet another reminder that people need to be aware of what they are posting on social networking sites and to whom they’re connected. Online users have no clue that a comment they made on a blog is being added to a database for some unknown use.

Aggregators like will collate information about individuals and sell it to companies that want to learn about those customers and what they do online. If a data mining company turns your chatter and network into a behavioral pattern, and if they can prove it has some worth, then it’s valuable to companies. Entities such as airlines, politicians, and even non-profits can use this data for finding new customers or targeting products to existing ones. Financial services companies such as banks and lenders are also using the same datamining services for marketing purposes and to make lending decisions. For instance, certain types of credit products, which fit your personality, could be marketed specifically to you. It’s a helpful tool to identify the right customers, the best customers.

Consumers might soon be seeing more credit card offers in their mailboxes. In the last quarter of 2009, the number of credit card offers mailed were up 46% from the third quarter of 2009. Credit card companies are already using social media to launch new products. American Express launched its new Zync card on social media sites.