Can Analytics Turn Drivel into Diamonds?
November 10, 2010
Are Facebook posts drivel or diamonds? Perhaps a better question is, “Can analytics convert drivel into diamonds?” The answer may be, “Yes.”
The Facebook content does not require semantics to squeeze sense out of it. The fact that a person has posted information delivers a signal about content “value.” The article “Drivel on Facebook More Valuable Than We Think” references a Swedish university’s report that calls attention to the importance of the superficial contacts, apparently unnecessary comments, and banal status updates on Facebook.
Regarding the more-than-real pseudo-friends of Facebook, the article says:
These contacts in fact constitute highly useful networks, networks that make use of the ostensibly meaningless comments and updates.
The public value of messages from a semi-private ecosystem is high. Companies and public authorities are not aware of the value of Facebook and other social content, particularly streams of content. Analytic methods, both simple and complex, justifies the cost of running analyses across these data. Who knew that social networking would generate value beyond the satisfaction of communicating with friends and acquaintances. The message is clear, “It’s time to cash on this gold rush.” For more information about text and data mining, navigate to www.inteltrax.com.
Harleena Singh, November 10, 2010
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Swearch: The Applification of Search
November 10, 2010
With the flame out at Ask.com, is search becoming an app; that is, a simple interface that delivers information without the user having to think or do much of anything? We think that for some users, automated search is the future. The app that delivers information without the user having to tap a screen may be a home run. Precision and recall become irrelevant. The users neither knows or cares whether the data go deep. Good enough may be a key factor.
Swearch, a non-native search app for iOS devices like the iPhone and iPad may be a window looking out at the future of search. Swearch is simple and easy. Swearch Is an Elegant Search Webapp for Your iOS Devices” explains that the app is an attractive and convenient way to search the Web. The article says:
Swearch does one thing well, and that’s provide you with multiple simplified search engine pages that you can swipe through like a deck of cards. Save it to your home screen and the icon even has support for the retina display.
It sure sounds like worth trying it, also opening the iOS door to other prospective innovative apps that can cast a similar spell. Command line searching, precision, recall, provenance—irrelevant and boring. The commoditization of search makes this online specialist shiver with joy and trepidation.
Harleena Singh, November 10, 2010
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Microsoft in the Spotlight
November 10, 2010
Steve Ballmer sells stock worth a billion to save some money on taxes. Executives jump ship with one catching a boat to frozen Finland. But the big news—bigger than the new Windows phone—was Ray Ozzie’s bail out.
“Steve Ballmer E-mail to Employees on Ray Ozzie Transition” highlighted the Microsoft Chief Executive Officer’s open letter to all its employees regarding the exit of Ray Ozzie from his role as the chief software architect. Recounting the achievements of the company and the contributions of Ray, Mr. Ballmer allegedly said:
Before he retires from Microsoft, Ray will be focusing his efforts in the broader area of entertainment where Microsoft has many ongoing investments.
What?
We, customers, developers, and Microsoft stay behinds now await the last trick the inventor or collaboration has up his sleeve. What’s beyond the cloud? Mr. Ballmer allegedly said:
The CSA role was unique and I won’t refill the role after Ray’s departure.
Okay, no chief architect. Lots of money from Office and servers. Is this the new Microsoft? Looks like it. And search? We looked but couldn’t find it.
Harleena Singh, November 10, 2010
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Is the Google Math Club Socially Challenged?
November 10, 2010
I was wondering if anyone else got a pesky e-mail from Google. In “Google Buzz Was An $8.5-Million Disaster. Why Can’t Google Do Social?” , we learn simply that Internet empires like Google can invade millions of people’s privacy and get away with nothing but a slap on the wrist. I read:
It seems like the hot trend right now for tech companies that make privacy mistakes is to settle with a big payment to set up an educational fund.
Eight and a half million dollars is chump change to a corporation as big as Google. And to top it off, they’ve not had to pay out anything to anyone who was affected by the problem. Google Buzz has assaulted the privacy of its users, now they are responsible for ‘educating’ users about privacy on the internet. Does this NOT make sense to anyone else?
Hello! Wasn’t it the users who discovered their privacy was being invaded? Google didn’t catch that one right off the bat. I remember high school. There were some socially challenged folks there. Math Club? Yep, Math Club.
Leslie Radcliff, November 10, 2010
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Forrester Expert Dings Zuckerberg
November 10, 2010
I don’t know the Facebook wizard Mark Zuckerberg. I haven’t seen the movie about Mark Zuckerberg. I don’t have much stock in the baloney that appears on Web sites—especially when that baloney includes executive biographies. Look at my bio at www.arnoldit.com/sitemap.html. Baloney. Look at the Google executive bios. Baloney. Look at consulting firms’ executive bios. Baloney. Look at a 20 something’s bio. Baloney.
Solid, fat filled, nutritional black holes. Baloney. Thus it is and thus it will ever be.
Picking apart a 20 something and criticizing his management expertise is pretty much a waste of time and indicative that an Angry Bird bone is stuck in one’s throat. Navigate to “Perspective On Zuckerberg”, written by one of the mid-tier consulting firms. Read it closely. Make up your own mind about what it is saying.
For me, grousing about a 20 something is like my quacking at a crow who wants the same chunk of bread this goose does. The crow doesn’t speak goose, doesn’t want to learn, and doesn’t want much more than the chunk of bread.
A mid tier consulting firm wants billable projects. When I read criticism of a high profile company and its top gun, I say to myself:
I think that a certain firm did not get a certain engagement. The best defense is a good offense. Let’s use the handy dandy blogosphere to point out why a certain company / person / product is deeply flawed.
Yes, this is how one 66 year old, addled goose in Harrod’s Creek thinks. My hunch is that there is a deep subtext in this consulting firms’ blog post. Will Mr. Zuckerberg care? Probably not. Will Facebook attorneys care? Maybe. I know Alexander the Great was a good manager despite some personal oddities handed down over the centuries. Does anyone in a history class care? Nah. Alexander conquered the world. Too bad he caught the sniffles and died. Bad luck, not bad management.
Do I expect a 20 something to combine the polish of a McKinsey partner, the insights of a Peter Drucker, and the financial acumen of a Warren Buffet? Not in a million years.
One thing about Mr. Zuckerberg is clear. He knows how to hire Xooglers. I don’t know how many mid tier consultants, former English majors, and wanna be techno-poobahs he has on his staff. I do know the 20 something has got the Google behind a social eight ball and Microsoft close to a side pocket. Not good enough for a mid tier consulting firm? Okay. Good enough for 600 million users, a growing base of banner ad customers, and some investment bankers? Yep.
Oh, and an important point: Mr. Zuckerberg is still alive, seems healthy, and appears to have the cash to hire some advisers. Maybe Forrester has found a magic sales method?
Stephen E Arnold, November 9, 2010
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Nielsen, about Those Web Traffic Data
November 9, 2010
One, two, three, four… The Nielsen Co. seems to have a problem with their counting skills. In “Nielsen Admits Undercounting Web Traffic” The Nielsen Co. recently found that they have erred in their counting of web traffic due to a glitch in how many characters their counting software is able to read. The miscount seems to have sent the illusion that web traffic is down nearly 22% in the past several months when in fact, this may not be the case at all. The article said:
Media owners have long complained that data from their internal logs was often leagues different than the data they got from Nielsen.
To most people this might not seem like a big deal, but it is. Because Nielson has a corner on the market, this error is going to be felt by many online media and advertising outlets. The numbers that Nielsen puts up affects how these companies allocate their funds. If the numbers aren’t high enough, the companies won’t put money into the website. And then:
We need to do a better job keeping pace with the rapid evolution of the internet.
It should be noted that Nielsen is doing everything they can to remedy the problem. Every part of their Internet measurement methods are under investigation. So, about those traffic stats, Mr. Nielsen?
Leslie Radcliff, November 9, 2010
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Coveo, the Innovator
November 9, 2010
The Coveo Customer information Access Solution has won the 2010 TMC Labs Innovation Award. Now, for those of us who don’t have a clue what I’m talking allow me to explain. Coveo is a customer information search platform. It takes information from any enterprise and compiles them into a central database making it easier for customers to find what they need. It’s also less expensive than traditional technology integration system and works under the firewall, so it’s secure. We learned:
“Coveo has proven their commitment to quality and the further development of the contact center and CRM industries through its Customer Information Access Solution. The Innovation Award exemplifies the best and the most unique products and services that this industry has to offer.”
The Innovation award is given each year by Customer Interaction Solutions magazine. They issue the award to companies who have the most unique products on the contract market.
Leslie Radcliff, November 9, 2010
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Twitter Embraces Lucene
November 9, 2010
We referenced Twitter’s use of Lucene. We wanted to document the popular tweet machine’s search system. The article “New Twitter Gets New Search Engine” reveals about a major alteration in the Twitter Search architecture to Lucene. learned:
Twitter’s Twitter search should now scale better, index more tweets per second and use less of Twitter’s system resources. All this newfound scalability and headroom will give Twitter’s developers the ability to build cool new search features in the near future.
This is due to the efforts of Michael Busch and his team, who have demonstrated Lucene/Solr scaling in a compelling way. Discarding the earlier acquired Summize’s technology, Twitter’s real-time search now uses the custom modified Lucene that is tweaked to Twitter’s unique needs. We hope Twitter’s heart settles with Lucene as a solution for its database scalability issues. The data flow from Twitter is interesting—more than 8,000 tweets per second and growing.
Harleena Singh, November 9, 2010
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IntelTrax Available
November 9, 2010
The new Web log IntelTrax is now available. The free service from the editors of Beyond Search and ArnoldIT.com covers data fusion. The term “data fusion” refers to systems and methods for processing disparate data and information into actionable intelligence. The phrases “business intelligence”, “knowledge management,” “text mining,” “eDiscovery”, and “data analytics” have become imprecise. Marketers apply these terms to a wide range of companies, products and services.
“No one has a definition for these buzzwords. Yet there are important and exciting developments available,” said Stephen E Arnold, publisher of IntelTrax. “This Web log—edited by Patrick Roland, a professional writer—will describe companies, products, and services that are essential where business and technology intersect. Our research reveals that organizations want information about ‘what’s next’ in information access and management. IntelTrax will help readers cut a path through this dense thicket of activity.”
Like Beyond Search, the Web log will present opinions and commentary. Available immediately are more than 150 articles. These range from a discussion of the i2 Ltd.-Palantir legal matter to commentary about the need for an intelligence framework that works. The About section of the Web log explains the blog’s editorial policies. The publication accepts advertising and if a company wants a sponsored write up, those will be included in the Web log and identified as a placed article.
Arnold continued, “In the last 12 to 18 months, a number of specialized software firms have begun to market services to the general business community. Some of these firms’ technologies were funded by or developed for the US intelligence community or a similar country’s governmental entities. Now these companies are offering commercial versions of their products. These software systems move beyond traditional data mining and map mashups. The companies are shifting information retrieval from guessing words that unlock a results list to a proactive, answer-oriented approach to data and information.”
IntelTrax is updated Monday to Friday with a mix of commentary, original features, and summaries of important reports. In addition, IntelTrax will profile specific companies and products. The information in IntelTrax does not duplicate the information in Beyond Search. The content will be distributed via RSS, and you can sign up for an email each day with that day’s headlines. The service is now indexed by Silobreaker, a content processing company serving both the commercial and intelligence sector.
Comments about IntelTrax may be sent to the editor at inteltrax@ymail.com.
Stuart Schram IV, November 9, 2010
Post sponsored by ArnoldIT.com
Apps or New Browser for Access
November 9, 2010
The Google will have to make some changes to Chrome. When the GOOG adapts, I think those pushing the apps method of content access and the fuel providers behind RockMelt will have their hands full. I think a reinvention of the browser is an interesting idea. “
“New Browser Incorporates Latest Trends in Web Technology” reported:
RockMelt, a Mountain View startup that Andreessen has invested in and advises, is releasing today a beta version of a new, eponymous Web browser built around some of the latest trends in Web technologies. It integrates social networking to a degree not found in mainstream browsers and saves user data to the “cloud,” allowing users to get the same browsing experience on their work and home computers.
Both the Apps crowd and the new browser crowd are responding to needs from the exploding market for consumerized information access. Consumers like appliances. Some can be downright weird. Think about the Dyson fan and ball vacuum. Others can be helpful when one wants a way to read Web pages in unlikely places. Think iPad. The notion of mashing up information is not a new idea, but it is gaining momentum. Think apartment listings placed on a Google Map south of Houston. The mash up and a $1,000 in cash can score an apartment more effectively than a person from Harrod’s Creek and a printed listing of available spaces.
The challenge in the consumerized world of information is that whoever has eyeballs wins. Sure, some outfits can come out of left field and take over a market segment. One only needs to think about Google to realize that in the span of 12 years, Google is on the path to an AT&T-type operation. On some days, I think Google is AT&T, where some of Google’s wizards labored in a previous life. I can also point to the Apple iPad and the 200,000 plus apps available to someone with a lot of time on their hands like blog pundits.
My view is that browsers that seek to displace the incumbents have to leapfrog the competition. That’s going to be difficult because Google and other browser developers can incorporate functionality and make that functionality available to an installed base. My hunch is that the me-too tactic will make 2011 browser competition quite unlike 1993 browser competition.
Which will win? Browsers or Apps? The companies best at playing Monopoly will decide, not the market in my opinion. Fewer and fewer users want laundry lists. Complex results lists are an issue. Funky app interfaces are a barrier as well. Inertia, not innovation, is likely to be a formidable hurdle even with the ability to melt barriers made of stone.
Stephen E Arnold, November 9, 2010
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