Data is king (looks like we launched our Data channel right on time), and Twitter continues to dominate the headlines. This week on Pro, our analysts and curators take a look at how social media is embracing politics, the rise of the clean data center and the results of our reader survey on the future of Twitter.
Note: GigaOM Pro is a subscription-based research service offering in-depth, timely analysis of developing trends and technologies. Visit pro.gigaom.com to learn more about it.
Cleantech: Cindy Waxer
“The economics of clean-data-center innovation”
Data centers are notorious energy hogs – Greenpeace predicts that data centers worldwide will consume the equivalent of 45 coal-power plants by 2013. In response, data-centric companies like Google, Amazon and Facebook have aggressively begun exploring (and building) green data centers, utilizing a variety of technology like solar cells and wind power to maximize energy efficiency and lower costs. Pro analyst Cindy Waxer takes a look at what companies are using which technologies, and the long-term economic, social and environmental benefits of these efforts.
Cloud: Paul Miller
“Data markets: in search of new business models”
Data is big business. As more companies use data as a vital component in major decision making (such as guiding the creation of new products and services), a thriving data market as emerged. These data aggregators provide one-stop shopping for clients, providing clean, formatted data that’s ready to use, but there’s no definitive or comprehensive list of these companies or services. Pro analyst Paul Miller provides a primer on the data market and wonders if there’s sufficient demand to justify this market segment.
Connected Consumer: Paul Sweeting
“All politics is social”
With the DNC and RNC conventions slated for next week, the 2012 presidential campaign season is about to kick into its final, frenetic stretch. Embracing social media as a vital campaign strategy is now a given – Obama raised half a billion dollars online in 2008. This time around, social media is embracing the candidates. Pro curator Paul Sweeting takes a look at how some of the biggest social media platforms – Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube – have rolled out tools and apps that help users track political coverage, like daily polling stats, news items and sentiment across their social graph.
Social: David Card
“Flash analysis: Is Twitter on the cusp of building a business?”
Last week, we asked GigaOM readers to weigh in on Twitter, as the company announced its new restrictions about how third-party developers could use its new API. Pro curator David Card compiles the survey results; it turns out that GigaOM readers either think more highly of Twitter than of Facebook or believe Facebook set its own bar too high – we ran a similar poll about Facebook in May, shortly before its IPO. What do GigaOM’s readers think aboutTwitter’s 5-year prospects, its potential revenue models, and the company’s business ecosystem of developers, data users and advertisers?
