Twitter Talks To Google and Microsoft About This Data Thingy

We don’t need to go over just how valuable the data that Twitter gathers on a minute to minute basis can be to the world as a whole. We can sit and bemoan the fact that the search capability leaves something to be desired, however. Of course, when it comes to Twitter the discussion wouldn’t be complete unless you discussed how they plan to make money other than getting large VC dollars based on big valuations.

So Kara Swisher over at BoomTown reports that Twitter is talking with Microsoft and Google separately about how the two search giants can get their engines on a full feed of the Twitter fountain that is the real time reflection of what many people are doing and recommending.

Sources said a number of scenarios are being discussed to compensate Twitter for its huge and potentially valuable trove of real-time and content-sharing information, generated from the data stream of billions of tweets of its 54 million monthly users.

That includes a number of structures, including a payment of several million dollars to Twitter, along with various revenue-sharing proposals that would give Twitter a piece of the revenue made from search results.

Heady stuff indeed considering that there is always speculation that Google itself is working to overtake the real time search bonanza on some level in some mysterious way that only Google could.

According to sources Twitter is talking only in non-exclusive terms about the access to this gold rush of information. Who can blame them? They can receive payment from as many folks who will pay. The magic will be in what any paying customer does with the data. It is likely that there are a myriad ways to take something as fluid and wide ranging as the data that Twitter sees every second of every day.

Swisher makes a great point with

How much of an indexing of its data Twitter will allow is unclear, but it certainly has bought itself time to think carefully about all its options, given that it now has a lot of money in the bank.

That cash store is the result of the recent $100 million investment based on the valuation of $1 billion.

Without giving this too much deep thought it looks like it makes sense. Twitter gathers it and other folks who have already done the heavy lifting prepare it for presentation to the masses.

Of course all of this could be a moot point if nothing happens which is just as much of a possibility as anything else. All of us are learning with passing of Internet “deal talk” time that talk is ridiculously cheap and until someone signs something or passes a check there nothing to see here. So for the time being keep moving folks. You’ll know if something happens for real and even then you’ll have to wait for the ability to actually “use the news” anyway.