3 tools for using social data to follow trends on Google, Twitter, and real-time web. Lecture I presented to PR students @ Utah Valley University

1. Intro to “social data analysis” Dr. Matthew J. Kushin Department of Communication Utah Valley University http://profkushin.wordpress.com @mjkushin

2. ME! Who am I? Dr. Kushin @mjkushin / profkushin.wordpress.com How has social media helped me? Networking Crowdsourcing Gather information, ask questions, get research Demonstrating expertise in my field Professors, students from other universities have found my research Journalists have contacted me for interviews

3. Niche me My niches: Social media enthusiasts new media tech & teaching Politics & social media

4. How big is new & social media? Here’s a live tracker http://www.personalizemedia.com/garys-social-media-count/

5. Today’s Goals Today I will introduce to you the idea of “trending” in social data analysis. My hope is to inspire you to explore some of these applications, get creative, & to seek out additional tools

6. Trending Sometimes called “social data analytics” Trending: Process of following an issue, subject or event over a period of time Use of media tools central to process Adaptable technique useful for many tasks

7. Trending While we cannot cover all caveats – basic knowledge of these tools are an important skill pertinent to comm fields today Used to create new knowledge and inform decision-making Usefulness of trending is limited only by user creativity

8. Some of the many uses…. Helps understand a topic’s: Relation to mass behavior Evolution across time Popularity at any given time Status in discussion in online spaces

9. Trending: What does it analyze? To draw conclusions based on trending of activity online assumes: Mass behavior online is a good indicator of public opinion

10. Raises the question: Is mass behavior online representative of public opinion? Problem: Unequal access to internet across population Users of specific online communities may share a common characteristics or demographic variables. E.g., young, female, white, outgoing personality, interested in technology, higher income bracket, etc.

11. Trending: Then why use it? Trending still offers insight: Informed decision better than uninformed Knowing behaviors and opinions of some better than not knowing at all. Population of interest may be highly represented in online space E.g., Interested in online shoppers so study Amazon.com discussion communities. Stay ahead of the curve May begin among the first informed in online spaces, later spreading to the mainstream. May need to: Address the “fire” within these spaces in order to contain it before it spreads to the mainstream E.g., #Amazonfail on Twitter

12. Preview: 3 tools Real-time search Platform: Multiple real-time searches Data: Archivist Platform: Twitter Google Search Insights Platform: Google

13. 1) Real-time web

14. The “Real Time Web” Process of searching for information as it is created Advancements in web searching coupled with growing use of social media enable online activities to be queried as they occur Search factors time & popularity as key variables

15. The “Real Time Web” Means: Enhanced ability to search activities of people via social media raises value of user-generated content Enables: ability to search web as a live and constantly changing entity Detailed understanding of change over short time span

16. Comparison Google: Organizes mass of information on the web by scouring web periodically Content is most anything posted online sorted by relevance to search query Real Time: Delivers most popular topics recently discussed or posted by users Content is soft: based on what people are saying (opinions, attitudes, thoughts, interests). content linked to is often hard: news articles, blog posts, facts, etc.

17. Tap into the discussion! Real-Time Web Search Use: What are people saying RIGHT NOW about a topic Enable us to monitor buzz around our campaign, brand, etc.

18. Example Scenario Our organization recently received negative press. We want to get a sense of what people are saying.

19. Example Scenario We’re doing PR for Taco Bell Its been a few weeks. We want to know if people are still concerned over “taco bell beef” situation. So we search daily “taco bell beef”

20. Real-Time Web Most popular real-time web is Twitter We’ll discuss Twitter soon – so let’s focus elsewhere Others: AddictoMatic – indexes latest results from many sources SocialMention – indexes blogs, images, microblogs, news, events, etc.

21. 2) Twitter Trends

22. 2) Twitter Trends If you have access to Twitter right now – log in and Tweet the following: #comm3530

23. 2) Twitter Trends Archivist Url: http://archivist.visitmix.com/ What is it: “a service that lets you search Twitter for Tweets. Then you can create an archive, analyze, export and share the tweets.” Use: See useful data trends about Twitter activity of your search

24. 2) Twitter Trends Let’s take a look @ who tweeted: #comm3530 Search Archivist for “#comm3530” http://archivist.visitmix.com/

25. Example Scenario You work for Chrysler and you’ve recently put out an $8 million dollar, Eminem advertisement You want to know how the twittersphere is reacting. Why? You know many people goto Twitter to share info & ideas. So, you can get an easy, free sense of how many people are talking about your brand.

26. Tweets with “Chrysler” on/after 2-6-11 Superbowl

27. Words Tweeted along w/ Chrysler

28. Google Search Insights

29. 3) Google Search Insights Tracks Google.com searches (only) Url: http://www.google.com/insights/search Uses: There are so many, some include: Research long term trends of usage of keywords. Compare and contrast performance of different keywords. E.g., brand names Segment search data by geographic regions (country, state, city). Identify search keywords that are most important in any industry / category.

30. Example Scenario #1 Scenario: Your want to demonstrate your Chrysler ad campaign is generating buzz. Notice a spike on Google searches

31. Example Scenario #2 Seasonability When is the best time to launch a campaign? “Personal budget” Budgeting is much more top of mind around the New Year so maybe a New Year’s resolution based campaign would strike a cord with consumers

32. Example Scenario #3 You want to know what product features people search for the most, when they look for a smart phone. You’ve created a product to rival the iPhone and want to see if you’re gaining traction Let’s search: http://www.google.com/insights/search/# What are popular smart phones of the day?

33. Summary We’ve covered just a few of the : basic tools for trending or “social data analytics” available. Features of these tools There are many other ways companies can monitor their brand Facebook “insights” for Facebook pages Twitter statistics via Hootsuite& others. These tools can help you in decision-making Their use is limited only by user creativity & know how

34. The surface… Learn more about archivist: http://archivist.visitmix.com/about/faq See all Google Insights for Search can do: http://www.google.com/insights/search/# Additional cool tools! Analyze your tweets: hootsuite statistics Twitscoop: trends on Twitter http://www.twitscoop.com/

35. Survey