The UN Global Pulse initiative announced a partnership with the global social media enterprise Twitter, to enable analysis of social media content to better understand global trends in areas such as food prices, job availability, access to health care, quality of education and disaster incidents.
According to UN Global Pulse, social media analytics on these issues can help to target humanitarian and development initiatives appropriately.
Chris Moody, Twitter, expressed confidence that the partnership will further the UN's efforts to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
23 September 2016: The UN Global Pulse initiative announced a partnership with the global social media enterprise Twitter, to enable analysis of social media content to better understand global trends in areas such as food prices, job availability, access to health care, quality of education and disaster incidents. According to UN Global Pulse, social media analytics on these issues can help to target humanitarian and development initiatives appropriately. Chris Moody, Twitter, expressed confidence that the partnership will further the UN’s efforts to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Robert Kirkpatrick, UN Global Pulse director, said the partnership underscores “the vast potential of big data to serve the public good.” A UN press release indicates that the partnership will protect Twitter users’ privacy while enabling innovative uses of Twitter data.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon established the Global Pulse initiative in 2009 to make use of data science and analytics to inform development and humanitarian action. Twitter offers a social media platform for communicating in 40 languages. [UN Press Release] [UN Global Pulse Press Release]