{"id":85,"date":"2018-09-15T16:00:10","date_gmt":"2018-09-15T20:00:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/skweeds.com\/?p=85"},"modified":"2019-01-22T19:40:56","modified_gmt":"2019-01-23T00:40:56","slug":"twitter-ad-project-an-introduction-to-apis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/skweeds.com\/?p=85","title":{"rendered":"Twitter Ad Project: An introduction to APIs"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

One of the things I love about the digital age is how easy it is to collect, store, and, most importantly, search data. Searching and referencing data have been made exponentially easier thanks to APIs. You can google that and read the wikipedia entry if you want to, but here\u2019s my quick explanation:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Imagine an office of public records. If you want specific information, you have to go during opening hours, wait in line, ask the clerk for what you want, and then the clerk goes back to the file vault, finds the proper cabinet, looks it up and retrieves it, makes a copy, and brings the copy to you in a nice folder.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you need to get one or two pieces of data, the process is cumbersome at best, but if you want a LOT of data, it\u2019s crippling. So, here\u2019s how the API makes it easier.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You tell the office of public records \u201cHey, I\u2019m doing this project where I need a lot of records, how about you save both of us some time and give me a key to the file vault?\u201d They say \u201cOK, let me take down your contact information. Here\u2019s your key and a manual of how to find things with our filing system. Have at it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, now that you\u2019ve got your API key, the next time you need data, you can take yourself straight to the file vault, let yourself in, and get what you\u2019re looking for on your own. Simple, easy, and exactly why people love APIs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, what do APIs have to do with Twitter\u2019s ad platform?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Project FART: Fake Ad Results on Twitter<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I love Twitter. I\u2019m curious about advertising. I\u2019m not spending as much money. Therefore, I\u2019ve been working on a new project: advertising on Twitter. It\u2019s a huge topic, but for now I\u2019m only going to focus on one issue: Data. Bad data.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Twitter\u2019s ad platform looks detailed but in reality offers very little actual information. The data they DO provide comes with the disclaimer that it \u201cshould not be considered official for billing purposes.\u201d Where\u2019s the official data for billing purposes? None is provided.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Dashboard<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Twitter\u2019s unverifiable ad results + Twitter\u2019s API + my stubbornness = a system of getting more accurate data.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Much to my chagrin, my API-aided ability to get accurate data has proved that the little data Twitter does provide is wrong.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, the primary purpose of this project will be to document Twitter\u2019s fraud, secondary purpose to brag about my 1337 coding skills.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

One of the things I love about the digital age is how easy it is to collect, store, and, most importantly, search data. Searching and referencing data have been made exponentially easier thanks to APIs. You can google that and read the wikipedia entry if you want to, but here\u2019s my quick explanation: Imagine an […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[8,7],"class_list":["post-85","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-tech","tag-social-media","tag-twitter"],"featured_image_src":null,"author_info":{"display_name":"skweeds","author_link":"https:\/\/skweeds.com\/?author=1"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/skweeds.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/skweeds.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/skweeds.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/skweeds.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/skweeds.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=85"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/skweeds.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":89,"href":"https:\/\/skweeds.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85\/revisions\/89"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/skweeds.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=85"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/skweeds.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=85"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/skweeds.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=85"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}