Twitter Redesigns Search Feature
February 22, 2013
Twitter’s blog post, “Search and Discover Improvements: Get More Great Content Faster,” describes updates to the service’s Android and iOS apps and to its mobile-tailored Web address . The primary change, as revealed by product management director Esteban Kozak, is the implementation of separate tabs with their own content streams.
There four of these distinct streams— Discover, Search, Connect, and Links. It is the first two that we find most interesting. The write-up specifies:
“Discover: Now all the content in Discover — Tweets, Activity, Trends and suggestions of accounts to follow — appears in a single stream, on both iPhone and Android. You can also dive into Activity and Trends from new previews at the top of the Discover tab.
“Search: Search results now surface the most relevant mix of Tweets, photos, and accounts, all in one stream (similar to the stream in Discover). We’ve also added a new search button to Twitter for iPhone, letting you search from anywhere within the app. (This button was already available in the Android and iPad apps.) Look for the magnifying glass icon next to the button you use to compose a Tweet.”
Making search and discovery easier to find and use is a worthy goal, and usually fairly straightforward to implement. The quality of search results, it should be remembered, is another matter entirely. The post mentions that information on new developments can always be found within Twitter’s entries at the App Store and Google Play.
Cynthia Murrell, February 22, 2013
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
ChaCha Reels In Another $14 Million in Series G Funding
February 9, 2013
ChaCha keeps on getting money. We learn about the outfit’s latest round of funding in All Things D’s piece, “ChaCha, Still Grinding Away at This Online Q&A Thing, Raises Another $14M.” Like Coveo ,it appears that ChaCha’s intake of investment is not yet generating an output of profit. Is its big pay day just around the corner?
Writer Liz Gannes sees the pattern, too, noting that the firm has now collected $82 million in funding. She reports that CEO Scott Jones believes his company has almost, after a history of ups and downs, conquered the Q&A conundrum. The key points: transitioning from the use of paid answerers to “passionate” (volunteer), identifiable sources; emphasizing social distribution over search; and offering brand-names the chance to share their wisdom, for a fee of course. Gannes writes:
“So: After clashing with Google by gaming its search results, ChaCha wants to take the even harder path of competing with Google head on, by trying to better answer the sort of quick questions Google now surfaces on results pages through its ‘Knowledge Graph.’
“But Jones said ChaCha can go further than Google because it has spent years focusing on how to answer ‘out and about’ questions about surroundings, make judgment calls and recommendations, and process phrasings that evade natural linguistic processing.
“And, in the meantime, ChaCha has built up an audience of 45 million uniques per month and two billion questions answered.”
Not too shabby, especially considering the setback the company experienced when it tangled with Google’s Panda in 2011. ChaCha has also found success with its “sponsored tweet scheme” Social Reactor, which pays out up to $100,000 per month to contracted tweeters. The distribution power associated with that program, says Jones, will help when the company pushes more forcefully into the mobile-app realm later this year. Let us hope ChaCha finds success soon; I’m sure their investors do.
ChaCha‘s free “ask-a-smart-friend” answer service can be accessed at chacha.com or through their mobile app. The company was formed in 2005, and currently employs 70 individuals. ChaCha is headquartered in Carmel, Indiana, just north of Indianapolis.
Cynthia Murrell, February 09, 2013
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
Possibilities for ROI Loom Large for Organizations Using PolySpot
February 4, 2013
While the term big data has been around for quite some time now as a commonly used phrase, there are still some media sources exploring the story and lineage behind the term used today. The New York Times‘ recent article “The Origins of ‘Big Data’: An Etymological Detective Story” delves into the subject, but first presents a staggering fact.
The Library of Congress announced last month that their directory of public tweets had reached 170 billion and this number is only rising. Because of a deal between Twitter and the Library, these tweets are not yet available for researchers to use, but this shows how connected both people and businesses are to big data.
From economists to John Mashey, the author explores possibilities of who should be credited with the origin of big data:
In the 1990s, Silicon Graphics was the giant of computer graphics, used for special-effects in Hollywood and for video surveillance by spy agencies. It was a hot company in the Valley that dealt with new kinds of data, and lots of it. There are no academic papers to support the attribution to Mr. Mashey. Instead, he gave hundreds of talks to small groups in the middle and late 1990s to explain the concept and, of course, pitch Silicon Graphics products.
While the story of big data’s origin is an interesting one, what is more exciting to businesses today are the possibilities for ROI. Technologies such as PolySpot that are designed to increase productivity and efficiency in the workplace are helping organizations achieve competitive advantage.
Megan Feil, February 4, 2013
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Beyond Search.
Ten Twitter Types
January 31, 2013
As with any technology, different people use Twitter differently. Forbes breaks this diversity down into “The 10 Types of Twitterers and How to Tame Their Tweets.” To set the stage, writer Steve Faktor explains why it is a mistake to label Twitter a social network:
“Though it looks social, it’s more hyperactive than interactive. Of the billions of tweets sent, 71% get no response, only 36% are worth reading, and a majority is generated by a tiny fraction of users. Twitter is a personal announcement system that captures the collective pulse of a world screaming for attention – or revolution, or discounts, or Kanye. Twitter is a tiny, evolutionary step towards a ‘global mind’. Making sense of that mind has spurred a gold rush of mind-readers trying to sell you shovels, pans, and a donkey.”
With that, the article launches into the Twitter-type descriptors. On one end of the scale, you have what Faktor colorfully calls the “undead,” those 60 percent of accounts that were created but remain inactive. “Organizations,” large corporations that Faktor calls Twitter’s big spenders like Starbucks and Zappos, are at the other end. It seems that most businesses, though, have so far failed to recoup big bucks this way. In the middle are such characters as “chirpers,” “scouts,” and “stars.” It is worth reading through his astute descriptions.
The write-up also lists three types of incentives that motivate tweeters: The tangible, like discounts or job leads; the perceived, psychological rewards like respect or convenience; and the informational, actionable data that feels rewarding. Will other incentives manifest? Twitter is still an evolving medium, and its use is a continuing experiment. I wonder what a list of user types will look like five or ten years from now.
Cynthia Murrell, January 31, 2013
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
An Algorithm to Limit Inaccurate Tweets
January 10, 2013
Since its famous role in the Arab Spring, Twitter‘s status as an active participant in (as opposed to simply a documenter of) unfolding events has been self-evident. Since then, on several notable occasions, users of the service have supplied crucial information before traditional news sources got their hands on the facts. However, as we saw during the tragic events of December 14, sometimes Twitter users get it wrong. Sometimes, the misinformation causes unnecessary stress, confusion, and even danger. That’s quite a downside to the otherwise helpful contrivance. What is a concerned citizen of the world to believe?
A solution may be on the way. It is after the fact (this time), but it is progress nevertheless. Slate’s “Building a Better Truth Machine” examines the possibility that machine-learning algorithms could identify and halt false rumors before they pervade the Twittersphere. Several studies have recently emerged that identify common characteristics of both true and false tweets. (See here and here for a couple of examples supplied by the article.) Writer Will Oremus tells us:
The authors of the 2010 study [from Yahoo Research, here] developed a machine-learning classifier that uses 16 features to assess the credibility of newsworthy tweets. Among the features that make information more credible:
- Tweets about it tend to be longer and include URLs.
- People tweeting it have higher follower counts.
- Tweets about it are negative rather than positive in tone.
- Tweets about it do not include question marks, exclamation marks, or first- or third-person pronouns.
Several of those findings were echoed in another recent study from researchers at India’s Institute of Information Technology who also found that credible tweets are less likely to contain swear words and significantly more likely to contain frowny emoticons than smiley faces.
Interesting. Oremus admits that those looking to purposely spread lies are sure to find a way around any algorithm that may be put in place, but suspects that it would at least cut down on the proliferation of inaccuracies. Let us hope that he is correct, and that an effective solution is implemented soon.
Cynthia Murrell, January 10, 2013
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
Twitter User Analytics Not Surprising
October 26, 2012
Some interesting Twitter demographics were revealed in the article “Typical Twitter User is a Young Woman with an iPhone and 208 Followers” on Gigaom recently. The article covers a study, “An Exhaustive Study of Twitter Users Around the World,” completed by analytics firm Beevolve, offering information about who is using Twitter and why. The findings tell us that our stereotypes about Twitter users are most likely true: most Twitter users are women, iPhone users, young, and tweeting about family and fashion. And of course, their background is probably purple.
We also learn:
“The most useful part of the study, however, is that it provides a good view of how ordinary people use Twitter. For instance, it reveals that 25 percent of Twitter users have never tweeted, the average number of followers is 208 and that 81 percent of users have fewer than 50 followers.”
Very interesting stuff, but this system is a key indicator of exactly what? We wonder if there is a disproportionate number of users in New York and San Francisco too; location demographics would be informative. Looks like businesses on Twitter just need to learn how to appeal to the all the other twenty-something purple-loving iPhone users like me.
Andrea Hayden, October 26, 2012
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
Lissted Streams Tweets and Analyzes Data
October 5, 2012
Discovering what is going on in the world and tracking news stories can be difficult in an overwhelming arena of social media updates. However, Twitter-based media relations platform Lissted is making that task a little easier for journalists and PR professionals. We learn about the company’s developments in “Trend Data and Sentiment Analysis Added to Twitter Tool” on MrWeb, which reports that Lissted has added trend data and sentiment analysis to its platform. The platform currently streams and indexes Tweets from journalists across the world.
The article tells us more about the features and benefits of this technology:
“As well as displaying the top trends across its database, Lissted now enables subscribers to look for trends within a specific group, showing the most talked about topics at a specific time or within a particular field of interest.
The new sentiment analysis feature – which is powered by Lexalytics’Salience Engine – assesses the language used in a tweet, to gauge whether tone is positive, negative, or neutral.”
This increased Twitter functionality shows the capabilities that sufficient data analysis can provide to numerous business and media outlets. We think keeping pace with social networking updates is essential to managing the chaos of data.
Andrea Hayden, October 05, 2012
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
Alternative Niche Social Networks Expanding and Succeeding
September 12, 2012
Social networking is here to stay. However, it seems the kings of the market, Facebook and Twitter, have some decent competition arising. “Six Alternative Social Networks” on ZeroPaid informs us of alternative social networks that have seen an increase in global market share. Obvious forerunners were Instagram and Pinterest, but other networks are also seeing a boost.
We learn in the article:
“[James Murray, Digital Insights Manager at Experian] also revealed that the future looks bright for alternative social networks, citing technological advancements as a key factor in the increased number of alternative sites:
‘Over the next 12 months, we expect to see a proliferation of niche social networks. Offering deeper functionality combined with a lower technical barrier to entry will mean new leaders in social media being created in a matter of days versus weeks and months.’”
While the numbers for the little guys arising in the social networking arena are nowhere near reaching the gladiators Facebook and Twitter, it is exciting to see where the community is heading. Newcomers are successful when they offer something different and identify a specific niche to reach consumers. No one is going to be the “next Facebook,” but there are still plenty of open opportunities for new networks.
Andrea Hayden, September 12, 2012
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
Open Source Technology Embraced by Social Leader Twitter
September 10, 2012
Most Tweeters are likely not aware that they are using open source technology every time they use the social networking site. We get a good look at Twitter’s open source approach in the article “The Open Source Technology Behind Every Tweet” on Datamation. The article gives insight from Chris Aniszcyzyk, the open source manager at Twitter. Twitter technology runs on the Java Virtual Machine and uses Scala programming language.
The article informs us:
“Aniszcyzyk stressed that Twitter isn’t just a consumer of open source technologies, it also contributes, too.
At the the top of Aniszcyzyk’s list of Twitter’s open source contributions is the Bootstrap HTML framework. Bootstrap is routinely one of the most popular project on the GitHub open source code repository.
Overall, Aniszcyzyk says that Twitter now has over 80 projects on GitHub. Rather than list them all alphabetically, he detailed the anatomy of how a Tweet is sent and delivered using open source tech.”
Twitter is debatably one of the most prevalent and important companies of our time as social networking becomes king of the Web. This embrace of open source technology may mean big things to come for companies that specialize in this technology as they gain more recognition.
Andrea Hayden, September 10, 2012
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
Twitter Politics
August 31, 2012
Oh, goody, more predictive silliness. TechNewsWorld informs us, “Twindex Tracks Pols’ Twitter Temperatures.” Clever name, though it does make me think more about window cleaning than about politics. That’s ok; window cleaning is the more engaging subject.
The full name of the metric is the Twitter Political Index, and it tracks tweeters’ daily thoughts about the two presidential candidates. Twitter created the index with the help of Topsy Labs and pollsters at the Mellman Group and North Star Opinion Research. The polling firms helped validate and tune the algorithms. It is Topsy’s job to track tweets for certain terms and compare sentiment on each candidate. So far, the incumbent seems to be well ahead in the Twittersphere.
But how far can we trust the Twindex? Probably not very far. Writer Richard Adhikari observes:
“The Pew Research Center has found that only 15 percent of adults online use Twitter. On a typical day, that figure is only 8 percent. . . .
“Overall, nearly 30 percent of young adults use Twitter, up from 18 percent the previous year. One in five people aged 18 to 24 uses Twitter on a typical day.
“Further, 11 percent of adults aged 25 to 34 use Twitter on a typical day.
“African-Americans are also heavy Twitter users, with 28 percent of them using Twitter overall and 13 percent doing so on a typical day.
“Urban and suburban residents are also significantly more likely to use Twitter than those in rural areas, Pew found.”
So, yeah, statistically Democrats are likely to fare better among Twitter users than Republicans. This index is about as valuable as any political echo chamber—for entertainment only. Personally, I’d rather be washing windows.
Cynthia Murrell, August 31, 2012
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
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