December 2009 Archives

Only a few hours left in the year, and I haven't fulfilled the apparent obligation of bloggers to post some sort of year-end list. Best of, worst of, predictions... you've seen 'em all by now. I have my predictions, most of which are embedded in my business plan, but the prediction that is most on my mind is this: 2010 is looking big from here. So, before the ball drops and the fireworks go up, here's a look back at the most-viewed posts in 2009:

  1. Monitoring Social Media Before You Have a Budget - May 2008

  2. The Sentiment on Sentiment Analysis - September 2009

  3. Defining social media relations - November 2006

  4. Visual text analysis - April 2007

  5. Corporate social media specialists - September 2007

  6. Sorting out social media measurement - July 2007

  7. Human vs. machine analysis - April 2007

  8. Social Media Analysis for Workgroups - August 2008

  9. Guide to Social Media Analysis - June 2007

  10. Companies Downplay Online Reputation Risk - March 2009
It's striking how many of these are old posts—only two of these are from this year. I suppose I should look through the archives to see what else is hiding there! To be fair, though, the most-visited page is the front page, which always has the most recent posts, and RSS subscribers have about doubled since last New Year's Eve. So somebody's seeing the new stuff. :-)

I'll keep focusing on quality over quantity, but I'm not about to stop writing here. Any topics you want to get into?

While the archive looks back, I'm definitely looking forward. '10 looks big from here. I hope it's big for you, too.

Analytics CampHere's a crazy idea: if an event you want to attend doesn't exist, organize it yourself. Which brings us to AnalyticsCamp (@AnalyticsCamp), a free day of networking and learning for folks interested in any kind of analytics (web, email, social media, marketing. big enterprise BI, you name it). The plan is to attract a mix of different analytics specialties and stir.

It's a Barcamp-style unconference, and anyone can pitch a session (we have some ideas), but we're also planning to seed the agenda with some serious experts to make sure we have solid content. Sessions will include technical, business and career topics, from beginner to advanced levels, so everyone is sure to learn something.

AnalyticsCamp grew out of a panel discussion on measuring social media at a recent Web Analytics Wednesday. It's intended to be primarily a local event, building community among interesting people working in analytics silos in the Triangle. But if you'd like to join us from out of town, you're welcome. You could lead a session while you're here, too. ;-)

Details
AnalyticsCamp will be held on Saturday, February 6 at UNC Kenan-Flagler Business School in Chapel Hill, NC (directions). Our hosts for the day are UNC's Marketing and Business Technology Clubs. Details are posted on the AnalyticsCamp wiki, and registration is open (it's free, but please register to help us plan appropriately).

UPDATE: Here's my wrap-up post from the day.

Quiet = Busy

Posting has been light here lately, but I have a good excuse, really. I've just gone through 30 demos in a comparison of 23 social media analysis platforms, from Alterian to Whitevector and including all the usual suspects. Now, I'm in the testing and writing phase of a comparison report that will be available in a few weeks. I'm getting hands-on with a lot of software, so blogging, tweeting, and even lunch are taking a back seat to the project.

The focus this time is on software that's designed to support social media capabilities in a multi-user, multi-project environment (which describes most companies and agencies). While asking the usual questions about features and coverage, I'm noticing interesting trends:

  • Tools are aligned with the 5 modes of listening; not all platforms try to do it all.

  • At the high end, companies are getting serious about social media analysis as enterprise software, adding features that address IT interests like user administration, security and system integration.
I'm test driving software options you probably haven't considered yet. At this point in the project, I'm fairly certain you don't want to duplicate the effort, but I think you'll be interested in what I'm learning. Meanwhile...

Nose. Grindstone.

Update: The report is now available: Social Media Analysis Platforms for Workgroups.

In my copious spare time, as they say, I'm also working on an analytics unconference—mostly because it will be an event I want to attend. We're not quite ready to announce the details, but the wiki gives the general idea.

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.
  • Principal, Social Target
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