Just last year, the social media platform Twitter was reporting that the number of users was down, and the company was losing money. After the 2016 election and complains that the online social space had turned into a wasteland of vitriolic memes and political grandstanding, it seemed the trend to vacate the Twittersphere would continue. But recently, Twitter has begun to evolve and to expand beyond 140 characters. And a high-profile investor has increased his financial stake in company, citing not an increased user base, or soaring ad revenue, but the company’s technology, as the reason he’s bullish.
Digital savant Omar Gallaga of the Austin American-Statesman’s 512 tech says Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban is excited about Twitter’s artificial intelligence and machine learning technology. The computing power that helps the social platform give users the kind of information it think they want to see in their timelines, as well as fighting spam and abuse on the service by spotting bad actors and problematic tweets.
“Apparently he sees something there that the rest of us are not seeing yet. Apparently, [Twitter] has made some really good hires, and have improved their algorithms,” Gallaga says.
The company has also beefed up the tools it uses to weed out offensive content.
What you’ll hear in this segment:
– What Mark Cuban sees in Twitter
– What artificial intelligence has to do with a social media platform
– How Twitter’s offerings are expanding beyond social media posts through partnerships.