Twitter is spreading its wings to fly. Twitter has lately added a series of improvements and new features, while simultaneously cementing new partnerships with new organizations. The latest handshake took place between Billboard Music and Twitter on Thursday.
Twitter decided to team up with Billboard in hopes of capitalizing on the conversations about music that take place on the micro-blogging site. Twitter is very popular with musicians, who use the social network to alert their followers to album releases, new music videos, concerts and other developments. Music lovers are also very active on Twitter, discussing their favorite artists, songs and bands.
Both Billboard and Twitter wants to analyze this user data to create accurate, real-time measurements of what music is hot right now. Billboard has been charting music for decades, but things move faster in our mobile digital age, so Billboard wants a little help from Twitter to more accurately chart the progression and trend of the music industry.
"Billboard has always been the standard by which music popularity is measured, and Twitter and its millions of users worldwide have added an entirely new dimension and pace to the way the marketplace interacts with, and evaluates, music and music-makers," said Janice Min, Co-President and Chief Creative Officer of the Entertainment Group of Guggenheim Media. "The Billboard Twitter Real-Time Charts, a natural extension for media brands so in sync in the music space, stands to once again dramatically shape the conversation around the content and the business."
Twitter decided to work with Billboard because of their experience, but also in hopes that music news will be even more accessible to its users than ever before.
"Twitter is where the music of the moment is discovered and discussed - every day, new songs and new artists are breaking on the platform," said Bob Moczydlowsky, the head of Twitter music. "We're partnering with Billboard to create a ground-breaking chart to track the conversation around music as it happens. This means when artists share songs and engage with their audience on Twitter, the buzz they create will now be visible to fans, other musicians and industry decision makers in real-time."
In a sense, this partnership is all about Twitter's attempts to turn the micro-blogging site into a by-the-minute analysis of social trends, topics and conversations. If you want to know what's going on in the world, Twitter is your source, so to speak.
"Billboard has extensive experience building charts that are trusted by both the music industry and consumers which made them the perfect partner for us," said Conway Chen, Director of Business Development at Twitter. "Twitter's data is unique in that it represents a comprehensive view of the world's conversation about anything and everything, including music. These charts will leverage our combined strengths to provide a reliable and unprecedented look into what music matters most to the public in any given moment."
