In this article we will cover:
- Reason #1: Customizable data collection
- Reason #2: Zero coding, zero infrastructure
- Reason #3: Tapping into one of the largest peer-to-peer networks
- Reason #4: Ethical data collection
Reason #1: Customizable data collection
Bright Data offers a variety of customizable solutions based on your business needs. Instead of talking generally, I will give you specific examples of how you can tailor solutions to your specific use case.
The first solution we can look at is the Web Scraper IDE IDE that allows you to build web data crawlers that meet your criteria while having zero infrastructure management. This could be for social media, travel, eCommerce, or any other target sites that are on your company’s radar. What is really nice about this option is:
- You can build a collector in a matter of minutes
- You get a live preview of your collector as you are building it
- You get alerts in real-time when something goes wrong with your data collection job
- You get access to a fully furnished cloud-hosted development environment
Here is a short overview of our other tailored solutions:
- Search Engine Crawler – Based on your industry, and the geography you are targeting, you are able to customize data collection for any keyword on any search engine. For example, you can collect search data pertaining to ‘cheap baby cribs’ on your target search engine, if that is your industry, and then include long and short-tail keywords on blogs, and product pages in order to drive traffic.
- Web Scraper IDE – Is a nice solution for companies that don’t want to invest in data collection infrastructure and technical staff to develop, and operate these operations. It allows you to define the data sets you need, and get that information delivered to internal consumers whether they are algorithms or team leaders. Beyond eliminating infrastructure issues and automating your entire data collection cycle, the nice thing about this solution is the scalability, and control that it provides you with.
You can turn your data collection operations ‘on’ for a certain job, and ‘off’ in seconds, and rearrange your budget, and priorities offering the agility that companies now crave. And when you are ready to grow, all you need to do is increase the number of target sites, the number of datasets, and/or delivery frequency.
Reason #2: Zero coding, zero infrastructure
For those companies that have the necessary infrastructure and coding resources in-house, you can integrate your data collection systems, and operations with one of our proxy networks.
These include:
- Residential proxies – These are IPs that belong to real individuals, and are located in every country, city, and state in the world.
- Data Center proxies – These are typically large quantities of IPs that are managed and routed through a server. They are not typically assigned to an Internet Service Provider (ISP).
- ISP proxies – These are real residential IPs that are leased from an ISP for commercial use. They are hosted on servers as with Data Center proxies but are distinguished in that they are registered as ‘Residential IPs’ by target sites.
- Mobile proxies – These are real user mobile IPs associated with 3G, and 4G devices around the world. These are the most effective, and undetectable, supporting use cases pertaining to GPS-sensitive data, for example.
But, for those companies, and businesses that do not have the time, money, and/or manpower, Bright Data offers zero coding, zero infrastructure options. The leading solution in this arena (as mentioned above) is the Web Scraper IDE which allows you to collect data in three easy steps:
- Define the data you want, influencer profile data in the health and fitness field.
- Decide on your delivery preferences, i.e. do you want to receive your data as it is collected in real-time or after an entire job is complete?! And where would you like your datasets to be sent – Webhook, email, Amazon S3 etc
- Receive your ready-to-use data – you choose the format (JSON, CSV, excel)
Reason #3:Tapping into one of the largest peer-to-peer networks
Bright Data is unique in that it has one of the world’s largest peer-to-peer data collection networks in the world. In the context of our SDK program, a code snippet is implemented by app owners and developers. They give users (both mobile and desktop) the option to opt-in as a fully compensated peer in the network, enabling businesses to use their devices to collect data. All involved parties are fairly compensated, and can opt-out at any time.
Peer data itself is never utilized or accessed, rather the peer device is used as a ‘tunnel’ or ‘bridge’ of sorts through which traffic is routed. Devices are also used at times when it least negatively impacts the user’s experience (this is known as using idle resources). Meaning traffic will only be routed when the device is being charged, or not in use.
This is a win-win-win situation for all involved parties as:
- App developers are able to get an additional income stream based on the quantity of opted-in peers that they have on their app.
- Peers are rewarded with an elevated user experience (either in the form of a free premium subscription or ad-free usage). They can opt-in or out at any point in time.
- Fully vetted corporate entities can collect more accurate open source data by leveraging the power of real peer devices
A word about efficacy
Peer-to-peer data collection is the most effective way to collect information from real user devices in your locale of choice. Imagine wanting to verify the content display of ads to mobile consumers in Spain. You can perform this desired action through real user mobile devices in Barcelona, ensuring smooth delivery.
Reason #4: Ethical data collection
Bright Data prides itself on being an industry leader as far as data collection ethical practices are concerned. This is an extremely important consideration as it serves as the basis for a clean and stable network.
Beyond this, if data is not collected in an ethical manner it is like a house of cards that can collapse later on. When growing your business you want to build it on solid foundations, and not worry about the legality of data that complex algorithms are built on top of, for example, and have it called into question. In this context, Bright Data provides businesses with complete peace of mind.
Here are but a few ethical data collection practices that are part and parcel of our DNA here at Bright Data :
- Peer sourcing – We only source peers in a legal, and consensual manner through our SDK partnerships as specified above
- Legal compliance – All of our practices are GDPR, and CCPA compliant ensuring the value of your datasets, and derived assets as far as data protection laws are concerned
- Resource usage – Routing data collection traffic never compromises our peers’ user experience. We only route traffic through idle devices that are charging, have sufficient battery power or are not currently being used.
- Know Your Customer – Bright Data has a KYC-first approach performing real-time compliance, as well as user validation. This means that use cases are vetted to ensure that they are ethical, legal, and compliant. To achieve this, internal log checks are performed on an ongoing basis by our compliance team, and third-party audits are performed periodically to ensure networks operate at the highest standards.
