• by Steve Smith  @popeyesm, December 3, 2013

What exactly is Apple going to do with a social media analytics company? No one seems to know, but someone at Apple does. The company confirmed a Wall Street Journal report that it has purchased Topsy Labs -- a company that analyzes data from the Twitter platform. WSJ pegs the acquisition at around $200 million. Topsy is one of a few companies given access to the micro-blog’s full stream of posts. It sells access to real-time analytics of tweets as well as to an index of all tweets going back to 2006. “Every tweet ever published, now at your fingertips,” it says of its product.

There is no clear path between this company and a current Apple product so far as most snap observers can see. It could be used for trend-watching that could be tied to its new iTunes radio service. Or it could signal Apple’s desire to try its hand again at the social network effort that failed with its Ping! service. Of course, anything involving Twitter also touches on TV broadcasting. Rumors around Apple’s always-imminent entry into the TV market are never ending.

Apple could also just be aggregating data from a key social spigot that can be used in multiple ways to serve marketing partners and ad or content recommendation targeting. According to its CrunchBase profile, Topsy counts among its clients global marketing, news, entertainment and financial companies. The product is also used as a social dashboard by many brands.