Scraping extracts data from web pages and stores it in a structured way. Scraping can be done manually, by copying and pasting the desired information, or automatically, using specific programs or tools that simulate the behavior of a web browser and access the contents of the pages with the web link.
Scraping has multiple applications and benefits, such as:
- Collect information about products, prices, opinions, etc. from different websites to carry out market analysis, comparisons, competition studies, or marketing strategies.
- Obtain public data or information from official sources, such as statistics, indicators, records, etc. to carry out research, reports, visualizations, or social projects.
- Extract multimedia content, such as images, videos, audio, etc. of web pages for educational, artistic, or personal purposes.
- Monitor changes or updates on web pages of interest to receive alerts, notifications, or periodic reports.
- Market analysis: scraping allows obtaining information on prices, products, competitors, customers, trends, etc., in a fast and updated way, which facilitates strategic decision-making and optimization of resources.
- Lead generation: scraping makes it possible to identify and contact potential customers who have shown interest in a product or service similar to the one offered, through their behavior on the web or in social networks.
- Monitoring of online reputation: scraping allows you to collect and analyze the opinions, comments, ratings, and reviews that users make about a brand, a product, or a service on the web, which helps to improve the image and satisfaction of customers.
Legal implications or possible penalties for scraping
- Violate the copyright or intellectual property of the content extracted without the consent or authorization of its creators or owners.
- Violate the terms and conditions of use or the privacy policy of the web pages that are scraped without respecting their rules or restrictions.
- Overburden or damage the operation or security of the web pages being scraped by making too many requests or requests at a short time or without proper intervals.
- Expose yourself to possible legal sanctions, technical blocks, or ethical retaliation by the scraped web pages if they detect or report the activity.
- Invade the privacy of some data of people or of the website that are deliberately not public.
- Possible copyright infringement in some cases.
As previously stated, scraping is a powerful but delicate technique that requires responsible and ethical use by those who practice it. Before scraping, the legality and legitimacy of the origin and destination of the extracted data must be verified, as well as its purpose and benefit.
Can scraping help me improve my business?
The answer is affirmative; Scraping is a technique that consists of extracting data from web pages and storing it in a structured format, such as a database, a text file, or a spreadsheet, and due to such characteristics it can be a powerful tool to improve your business or activity.
Scraping has multiple applications and benefits for different sectors and activities, so it is a valid and very strategic tool when preparing your development plans, whether it is for your company, personal brand, or valuable information that is not usually accessible. through traditional internet media.
Social networks: Is it possible to scrape them?
Technically it would be possible to scrape social networks such as Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, TikTok, and others, however, these have a series of drawbacks that must be overcome, such as doing it from different IP addresses or using a proxy service that you can bypass security lockdowns that need to occur by doing it from only one direction.
Some tools or applications can carry out this type of activity without the person knowing anything about programming codes, only with little computer knowledge you can scrape any website or site, including social networks with this type of tool.
