Results tagged “lists”

Text Analytics in the Cloud

politicsbig.jpgIf you're a software developer (I'm not), you might find it easy to throw together a new application. You can handle pulling in data, moving it around, and displaying results—the normal software stuff. If you're analyzing social media content, though, the core functions of text analytics might be something you'd rather not learn. There's an API for that.

These services—some free, most commercial—allow you to skip the R&D and plug text analytics into your system. In a market crowded with me-too platforms, it might be the step that gets you off the entry-level rung of the ladder.

There, that should be enough for another 300 social media analysis startups. :-)

More posts in the "Build or Buy?" series:

Visualization by Thomas Jenkins.

Analytics as a service: AaaS? Wouldn't want to hazard a pronunciation on that one.

Global Social Media Usage Patterns

WMSN1210.pngI've been interested in things international a lot longer than I've been blogging international topics (just look up careers in international affairs). At work, that translates into tracking down companies globally; it's one way my research is different. So when somebody takes a good look at social media patterns beyond the US, I'm usually interested.

Global view

Regional view

Country-level view

If your view has been dominated by US trends, you should be interested, too. As it turns out, people are doing this stuff all over the planet.

Some lists are more incomplete than others. What sources of regional or country-level information on social media usage have you found?

Ugh. Yahoo is killing off Delicious, the social bookmarking service that I've used since 2005. This is inconvenient. I don't need to spend my time rebuilding stuff that already works.

First priority is saving all the bookmarks. Frank Gruber posted a list of backup options to cover the basics. At least I don't have to worry about losing the bookmarks entirely. The challenge here is to replace what Delicious does in my publishing workflow. Just saving links doesn't meet the requirement.

I don't have the answer for that, yet. So far, I'm collecting names of services that might work. Here's what I've seen mentioned:

Any other suggestions? I use Delicious to support dynamic content on multiple websites. Replacing it kind of matters to me.

I don't suppose anyone thought of offering Delicious Pro accounts. I do pay for some of the other services I'm using. Would revenue make a difference to Yahoo?

Update 12/17: Now Yahoo says they're selling Delicious, not shutting it down. That would be better.

Note to self: Figure out which other Yahoo properties I use. Migrate. Don't look back.

New Dashboards Blend Analytics Sources

img_data.jpgToo much information. And increasingly, too many disparate sources of data, many with their own analytical tools. So it's interesting to see a new crop of startups offering tools that pull analytics data from multiple sources into a single dashboard for analysis and reporting.

This is one of those posts that started as a more detailed look at a few tools, but as I was looking around, more platforms kept popping up on the radar. So it's become a list, which is probably just as well. Some of these guys are semi-hidden in beta testing, so any detailed description is going to be out of date soon, anyway.

If you're spending too much time trying to corral performance data from multiple online sources, try these on for size:

(Also available as a Twitter list.)

Analytics mashup
What these platforms have in common is the ability to create charts and dashboards that combine data from web analytics and social media sources (Leftronic is different, because of its emphasis on large-screen dashboards for public view). So if you want to see the correlation of Twitter followers and website visitors, you can. If you want to track multiple accounts on one dashboard, you can. If you want to stir in data from your internal databases, some of them will let you do that, too.

What if
Remember the RSS tricks post from a couple of years ago, how you can assemble useful applications by using RSS inputs and outputs as a pipeline between services? With so many APIs going in and out these days, one of these dashboards could be the user interface for some interesting manipulations. For example:

What if you were to combine online sources (social media) and internal company data, run them through some text analytics, and pipe selected metrics out to one of these dashboards to mash them up with web analytics (which you've already linked to business performance). Would you find the elusive social KPI you've been looking for?

It's a list. I've missed somebody. Tell me, and I'll add them.

pipewindow.jpg"Build your own listening tool" has been a popular topic, with suggestions usually building on free combinations of search feeds and RSS tricks. Twitter, especially, has inspired a whole constellation of free tools. But "build your own" has a deep end of the pool, too. Whether you're building a customized tool for specific, internal requirements or realizing your vision of the perfect entrant to an overcrowded market, building your own tool involves a series of build-or-buy decisions, starting with where you will get your source data.

There's a list below, but first, some background.

I first wrote about the building blocks of social media analysis in 2008. The short version is this: any system for monitoring or measuring social media has three basic components: data collection, analytics, and application. The differences are in the details, and each component can be the subject of its own build-or-buy decision. If your goal is to beat the industry standard in a particular area, you build, but if industry-standard is good enough, you don't have to.

At the time of the original post, all of the components were available separately for companies who were building their own systems, either for their own use or for commercial product development. Now, more options are in the market, especially in data collection. Lots of search engines offer RSS feeds. This is something else: services that aggregate social media data from multiple sources for business or commercial users.

More than just aggregation
The data collection step is about more than mashing together multiple search feeds. For the professional-strength aggregator, the finished product—like paid products in other categories—does something the free tools don't offer.

  • Sources
    Social media comes in lots of flavors, and aggregators need to keep up with the introduction of new services. Commercial aggregators can also deliver content that simply isn't available without a subscription, such as full feeds from traditional media.

  • Filtering
    Once you fill the pipe with incoming content, it's time to screen out the junk. Removing duplicate items is a start; removing near-duplicates (such as syndicated content or press releases) helps, too. Spam removal is a big deal.

    Another kind of filtering is prescreening the content for relevance to the customer. How that works is part of the aggregator's secret sauce and will differ by provider.

  • Metadata tagging
    We spend a lot of time thinking about analyzing the unstructured text in social media, but most of the content also has structured data around it (such as the source, publication date, and number of comments). Aggregators can also pull information about posts from third-party sites to complete the picture.

  • Speed
    Oh, and do all of the above quickly, please. Financial applications go to extremes to reduce latency (the lag between when content is posted and when it shows up in the aggregator), but it's a factor in less demanding environments, too. If you're monitoring Twitter, for example, you need to know in seconds or minutes, or you'll be too late to respond in that near-real-time environment.
The core capability here is aggregation: let someone else keep up with the changing media environment while you focus on the other pieces, but the choice between DIY and DIFM can be about more than the trade-off between money and effort.

The list
Oh, yeah, this is a list post. Companies who offer social media content aggregation as a service (updated 30 Jan 2012):

The usual P.S.: Who'd I miss? Leave a comment, and I'll update the list.

More posts in the "Build or Buy?" series:

Photo by identity chris is.

A big part of my approach to understanding the market is to explore the edges, and one of the edges is information arbitrage—where social media analysis meets investment research. Think of a portfolio manager or analyst using social media intelligence to analyze investments and find trading signals. It'a pretty easy to understand the ROI in that application, and it's the kind of application that may just get your CFO's attention.

I've talked with people with some interesting approaches to this specialized market, and I recently started a project to categorize the strategies in the market. There are a number of different angles in play, which makes it a particularly interesting space:

In this market, the distinction between social and traditional media isn't always relevant, so news analytics services from Dow Jones and Reuters figure into the mix, too.

Given recent trends in financial markets, I've decided to prioritize other projects, but I expect to come back to this one (so if I missed your company, let me know). It's a potent reminder that there's more to social media than marketing and communications.

Related posts:

If you're building an in-house social media capability—whether in an agency or corporate environment—your needs for social media monitoring and analysis are a bit different from other companies. The basics of collecting data and generating metrics and reports are the same, but hands-on workgroups have special requirements.

On some level, many social media analysis companies can help you build your own capabilities. The nearly ubiquitous interactive dashboard is a hands-on tool for clients who want to interact with the data, but they're a better fit for individual analysts. Some companies really focus on developing platforms for companies building their own capabilities.

What's different
On top of the core analytical and reporting capabilities, social media analysis platforms for workgroups tend to include features like these:

  • Multi-user environment
  • User account management
  • Multi-client awareness (for agencies)
  • Delegation and tracking features
There's more, of course—especially when you get into the secret sauce that these companies cook up. Features vary wildly, and even the basic philosophies differ, but those are the basics that set workgroup platforms apart from the more numerous dashboards.

The other distinction is harder to see, because it's embedded in the business: these companies are oriented toward supporting in-house social media capabilities. Many dashboards, on the other hand, are a secondary service from companies whose clients typically want finished reports from their vendors.

The list
Vendors with monitoring and analysis platforms for the in-house social media team:

You'll find profiles of most of these companies (and a lot more) in the second edition of the Guide to Social Media Analysis, which is now available.

Update: I've published a review of 21 Social Media Analysis Platforms for Workgroups to help you find the right choice for your needs without months of research.

I can just hear people shouting, "you missed us!" Go ahead, leave a comment, and I'll add you to the list.

There's a difference between "we don't have any money" and "we don't have a budget for that (yet)." The usual advice about monitoring social media for comments about your company ends with pointers to free tools and a few of the commercial options. But if you're a manager trying to make the case that your company should listen to social media, these free services from social media analysis vendors will help you justify the budget to keep going.

Free tools from social media analysis companies:

Companies who offer free, limited accounts on commercial tools ("Freemium" model):
Commercial tools with free trials (length of trial):
The distinction between "no money" and "no budget yet" is important for free trials. The limited time may be all you need to collect enough information to support your request. If you're making the case for the budget, I'm sure the vendors will be happy for you to use them that way. If you already have a budget, of course, everyone will offer you a demo.

If you already have a budget and need to explore your options, my report on social media analysis platforms for workgroups (March 2010) is for you. I reviewed 21 vendors to see what makes them different and which are appropriate for which uses. The report has an overview of the market, tables for quick comparisons across all 21 companies, and individual reviews of the products.

I went through everybody's web sites, but I might have missed some. Mention yours in the comments if I did, and I'll add it to the list.

Blog highlights

Welcome, new readers! If you recently discovered the Net-Savvy Executive, you may find some of these older posts helpful or interesting. Jump in anywhere with comments; your participation is definitely encouraged here.

    - Nathan

Recurring list posts

From the whiteboard

Social media analysis

Social media & marketing

Ethics and social media analysis

Other interesting posts
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About Nathan Gilliatt

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  • Voracious learner and explorer. Analyst tracking technologies and markets in intelligence, analytics and social media. Advisor to buyers, sellers and investors. Writing my next book.
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