彭博要不要提防Twitter

    彭博社已经注意到这些新动向。它在本月早些时候已宣布，将为彭博终端系统增加自己的Twitter服务。这项服务将为客户提供经过精心组织的实时信息流，来源主要是企业、高管、政府官员、经济学家、评论家、媒体等方面的Twitter账户，以及由彭博社工作人员选择的其他有影响力的消息来源。用户可以为他们想要跟踪的公司设置信息提醒和信息过滤请求。此外，彭博社还专门推出一个名为“彭博社社交速度”（Bloomberg Social Velocity）的板块，用来跟踪社交媒体上有关特定公司的讨论异常激增的情况。

    彭博社新闻业务核心产品经理布莱恩•鲁尼说：“和我们提供的其他所有服务一样，Twitter只是我们客户可以获取信息的另一个渠道。它是我们过去所提供的服务的一个自然延伸。”

    华尔街大多数银行以安全和通讯方面的顾虑为由，并不允许员工在工作中使用社交媒体，所以，这些员工将终于能够通过彭博终端系统一窥Twitter平台上的短消息交流。但是，这并不是没有局限性。其一，Twitter消息流呈现在彭博社自己的终端界面上与Twitter原生版面相比可能会有点不协调。此外，彭博社不会提供许多针对社交媒体话题的深度分析，虽然该系统中包括的Twitter账户数量持续增加，但仍然只是由彭博社选择的消息来源，从而限制了用户可以听到的观点。

    鲁尼说：“客户并不需Twitter平台全部短消息的流水记录，他们希望获得的是那些重要或者与大众关心的话题相关的Twitter短消息。”鲁尼还表示，Twitter只是数据来源的一个组成部分，彭博社还有许多资源和经验，可以在不使用社交媒体的情况下发现新闻。

    要想获得Twitter平台全部短消息的流水记录，企业必须借助Gnip等社交媒体应用程序接口（API）。实际上，许多对冲基金正在放弃使用Dataminr等社交媒体数据分析平台，而仅仅使用Gnip来直接获取、过滤Twitter信息流，然后自己进行分析。

    然而，Gnip资产和财务技术部门主管塞斯•麦克奎尔认为，虽然对于专业投资者来说，社交媒体数据分析正成为一个日趋重要的工具，但它并不能提供全部的相关信息。麦克奎尔说：“华尔街的交易员永远不会仅仅依赖于一个数据来源。数据分析使得社交媒体变得令人感兴趣，但它并不能取代其他信息来源。”（财富中文网）

    译者: iDo98

    The developments haven't gone unnoticed by Bloomberg, which announced the addition of its own Twitter service for Bloomberg terminals earlier this month. The service will provide clients a curated live feed from the Twitter accounts of corporations, executives, government officials, economists, commentators, media outlets, and other influential sources of news chosen by the Bloomberg staff. Users can set alerts and filters for the companies they want to follow. In addition, a section called "Bloomberg Social Velocity" tracks abnormal spikes in chatter about specific companies.

    "Twitter is just another channel our clients can use along with all the other services we provide," says Brian Rooney, core-products manager for news at Bloomberg. "It's a natural extension of what we have been providing in the past."

    Most Wall Street banks don't allow the use of social media at work, citing security and communication concerns, so employees will finally get a glimpse of the Twitter conversation through the terminals. However, it's not without limitations. For one, the Twitter feed is presented on Bloomberg's own terminal interface which can be clunky compared to the native Twitter layout. There is also not a lot offered in terms of in-depth analysis, and although the list is growing, it's still filled only with sources chosen by Bloomberg, limiting the voices that can be heard.

    "The client doesn't want the full Twitter hose," says Rooney. "What they're looking for are tweets that matter and exposure to the broad conversation." Rooney also says Twitter is only one component of the data and Bloomberg has plenty of resources and experience for spotting news without the use of social media.

    To get access to the full Twitter "firehose," companies would have to use a social media API provider like Gnip. In fact, many hedge funds are foregoing using an analytics platform like Dataminr and simply using Gnip to directly access and filter the Twitter feed and perform the analysis themselves.

    However, Gnip's director of assets and financial technology, Seth McGuire believes that while social media analysis is an increasingly integral tool for professional investors, it isn't the complete picture. "The guys on the Street will never rely on only one source of data, says McGuire. "Analytics makes social media interesting, but it's not a replacement of other sources."