The telecommunications giant AT & T has filed a blockchain-oriented patent application to "map" social media stories. Entitled "Blockchain-based social media history maps" and released Thursday, it describes a system for tracking social media chronology "on behalf of" subscribers. Presumably, this service would be more useful to employers and potential employers.
AT & T Eyes Blockchain for the social media scraping tool
One of the specific categories described in the patent application would also be "career interests". Thus, we can assume that the service is not just for tracking potentially negative socially negative activities. Instead, perhaps potential employers could use it to find people potentially interested in their field.
The platform is not just designed to track specific account activities, however. Another form of realization could be tracing trends in a non-silent way. A service user could understand what people are talking about on all platforms. This would negate the need to use a separate account on each social media site to obtain data.
It can also be addressed to companies that may want to know what people are saying on various platforms while they are in their plants. Even casual users may find out what interests people in their sphere of influence. Data can be sorted by multiple categories, including date, time or place.
"Information created or shared on social media applications is generally disabled by the application and / or platform it was created or shared in. For example, if a user of multiple social media applications wants information about current trends in at a given time, information about current trends in a certain location or information about the behavior and activities of their friends, in general, in a particular location, or at a particular time, this information may not be available from a single multimedia application. In general, the ability to track micro-culture transactions (ie a particular social media account including followers) by location, time and content can have tremendous value in e-commerce, marketing and advertising targeted. "
Will users retain ownership of data?
The product as described can have many different purposes. The creators of the content would retain ownership of the data in the social media blockchain mapping service. An advantage for the owner could be that the posts and tweets that remain in the blockchain map even if they have been censored by the platform in general.
"The social media history mapping platforms described here can take advantage of the immutable and permanent nature of blockchain records to store and provide access to data representing online transactions that occur across multiple social media applications. ownership of blocks or data between users, an owner of a social account maintains the main property of his online transaction data: What passes from the owner of the social media account to other users of the social media history map service , like the followers of the social media account owner, is a notion of high visibility rights. "
Some elements of the patent description could raise privacy issues. In one section, the authors talk about monitoring purchasing behavior and overall online behavior in general. A merchant's dream may have access to this information on a personal basis. Targeted marketing could thus reach new heights. However, there are various models in which this could benefit both parties. A potential idea might imply an opt-in program in which the user is compensated for information on volunteering. Marketers would pay to access them.
At present, accurate social media mapping technologies are relatively rare. Whole companies are dedicated to accurately exploiting the various promotional capabilities of each platform. There are several ways in which social media mapping can benefit both the user and third parties, such as employers and marketing professionals. One thing is certain: if AT & T is awarded with this patent, they will have a piece of all the social maps that has some blockchain element going forward.
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