Gnip, Twitter to create archive of tweets

BOULDER – A Boulder startup is helping one of the nation’s most august research institutions compile the world’s largest database of Twitter messages.

Gnip Inc. on Wednesday announced it will work with Twitter and the Library of Congress to help create the library’s archive of public tweets.

Gnip is a venture-backed startup located in Boulder and was founded in 2008. It provides social media data from sources like Twitter, Facebook and YouTube to businesses that integrate it into their business and consumer applications.

The library is collecting the tweets to create a record that historians and other researchers can use for future study. Twitter and the Library of Congress announced the creation of the archive in April 2010.

Gnip on Wednesday announced that it will be responsible for collecting and delivering the data to the Library of Congress.

Both Gnip and Twitter are providing the data and the service free of charge. The archive will be available for the public free of charge, but it is not intended to be used for commercial purposes.

While Twitter sometimes is derided as being frivolous, the archive actually will provide a treasure trove of information that will help researchers understand public opinion of events such as the death of Osama bin Laden or the revolution in Egypt as those events unfolded, said Rob Johnson, Gnip’s director of business and strategy.

“I think it’s really an impressive and innovative step to recognize the importance of this content,” Johnson said.

Delivering the data will be a large undertaking for Gnip, which employs about 24 people, he said.

“We’re committed to deliver all the tweets that have occurred up to now, and all the tweets that will occur in the future,” Johnson said.

Gnip’s primary customers are enterprise software companies that are building platforms that need social media data, which is not that different than what the library intends to do.

“As it turns out, the Library of Congress fits very well into our general business model,” Johnson said.

All the tweets Gnip will collect and deliver are from public Twitter accounts. The company does not collect data from private feeds, Johnson said.

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