Twitter eyeing Japan for revenue from data for businesses

TOKYO (AP) — Twitter has its eyes on Japan, with its 35 million users, to make money from companies eager to use Twitter data to research retail trends, manage inventory and improve customer service.

Twitter says it deals properly with people's privacy concerns, and the strength of Twitter is that the information is immediate, and all public, unlike private messages or email.

In the U.S., for instance, a coffee retailer began to offer baristas college scholarships to retain them as employees after finding out through Twitter data that loyal companies fled after their favorite baristas quit.