Social Media Analytics: What Are Social Media Data?
March 8, 2012
We have been following Text Analytics News, along with Useful Social Media, in its recent series of interviews with experts in the field of Social Media Analytics. The third installment focuses on what exactly social media data is and where it comes from.
“Social Media Analytics Expert Interview Series: Part 3” is conducted by the Chief Editor of Text Analytics news, Ezra Steinberg. The interviews are published as a lead-up to the Social Media Analytics Summit. The interview panel for this installment includes: Tom H. C. Anderson CEO, OdinText – Anderson Analytics; Nathan Gilliatt Principal, Social Target; Chris Moody COO, Gnip; and Kami Watson Huyse CEO, Zoetica Media. The interview covers experts’ definitions and interpretations of social media data and attempts to resolve confusion about how to use these data. Some insights from the interview follow:
“USM: When you think of “Social Media Data,” what do you think of first? Second?
Kami (Zoetica Media): Social media data is at the heart of understanding your community. Far from being cold and impersonal, data can tell a story that intuition alone cannot deliver. As much as we like to believe that we fully understand our community, what people say and what people do are often very different. Data can help to guide intuition.
For that reason, the second thing I think of when I consider social media data is its importance as a tool to diagnose, prioritize and evaluate what you are doing as an organization and use it to make course corrections.
USM: Do you think there is currently a common understanding as to what constitutes social media data?
Chris (Gnip): Definitely not. For example, some think of social media data as Twitter data because Twitter has done a better job than some other companies of making their data available in a full coverage, reliable, scalable format. The reality is that social media data comes in lots of different forms from lots of different sources. We’re working hard to help companies understand how different types of social data can be useful for different types of analysis.”
The interview focuses on understanding social media data and getting the most out of the analytics that it provides. Focus is also given to social media monitoring vendors and analytical tools, with opinions from the experts on which ones are valuable and how they work. Businesses are learning that considering these opinions and implementing social media is valuable when attempting to learn and understand customers and potential customers. The full interview can be found here and can give insight on this marketing tool and how it works.
Andrea Hayden, March 8, 2012
Sponsored by Pandia.com
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