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.
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.
