Data: Online, Iranians turning to Facebook during crisis

Data: Online, Iranians turning to Facebook during crisis

Shared via AddThis

Check out this article published in Venturebeat on Wednesday June 17, 2009.  In working with Eric Eldon on this article, we (the folks here at Clearspring) analyzed data from the AddThis platform to detect sharing trends in Iran over the  past few weeks.  Specifically we can see when unique visitors with the geography of Iran are sharing content to Facebook, Twitter or any other service.  In this particular analysis, we could see the hockeystick jump in shares to Facebook on the day of the election.  Coincidentally, we could also see the decline in Facebook shares in the weeks leading up to the election when access to Facebook was being proactively blocked by the regime.

Here is to sharing – a revolutionary act in the age of social media!

It’s raining, It’s pouring, But No One Was Snoring

Below is my Metrics Insider column which was published in today’s MediaPost.

Between the pouring rain and bolts of lightning, MediaPost held its first OMMA Metrics & Measurement conference at the Yale Club this past Tuesday.  The room was packed and the panels put forth some lively discussion and debate for the audience to ponder.  For those who were not able to join us, let me recap a few highlights for you:

Jeffrey Eisenberg, the CEO of FutureNow started off the day as the morning keynote and sent us away with several key takeaways:

• “Measurement gets an A-, but acting on the data get’s a D.” So many of us today are measuring things, but never taking the measurements and turning them into action plans to improve what we are doing with our web sites and campaigns. There isn’t any point in measuring if we aren’t going to do anything about what the data is telling us.
• “What are you measuring if you cannot draw a straight line from a web metric to a line on your financial statement?”  This statement drew a little bit of flack from some in the audience, but isn’t it true? Regardless of whether there is a conversion funnel on your site or if you are building brand awareness, all web metrics lead to a value oriented transaction either online or off.

Chair-throwing almost ensued (ok, maybe not that extreme) at my favorite panel of the day which was on Audience Measurement.  The first shot across the bow came from Quantcast’s Adam Gerber to comScore in response to Josh Chasin’s referencing the difference between “direct measurement” versus “panel-centric hybrid” approaches for audience measurement. Quantcast appeared to draw a very distinct line between measurement and what they call “Activation” or taking that hybrid approach to the next level to provide the value of demo and behavioral data in real-time to the buyer.  Between comScore’s recent release of Media Metrix 360 and Quantcast’s current trajectory, I think we are going to see some interesting innovation from both of these companies in the coming year.  (Kudos to Matthew Gay from Martha Stewart who sat between Josh and Adam representing “Switzerland” in the hot debate on the future of audience measurement firms.)

Rishad Tobaccowala, CEO of Denuo kicked off the afternoon keynote with the quote of the day “Avoid Data diarrhea”.  (A disgusting thought that I had a difficult time shedding for the rest of the day!)  Picking up from where Jeffrey left off in the morning, Rishad reminded us that you can get so bogged down in data and data analysis that you just miss the entire picture.  His two big takeaways:

• “I’ve never seen clients make their decisions with data. They use data to justify their decisions.” Business decisions always come from gut instinct on what you know to be true he stressed.  However, you must use data to validate those gut instincts to ensure you are on the right track.
• “Pick your three or four metrics that define success and tie those to your business decisions.”  Another way to look at his first point – data drives decision making (acting on the data).

The last panel of day focused on the popular topic of measuring Social Media.  Sarah Hofstetter of 360i had a resonating statement of that panel – create a “Listening program”.  What she meant by her statement was that listening to what your customers are saying in social media is not a one-time effort or a project, but an ongoing and sustained commitment to understanding social media.

For more news from the conference, check out the MediaPost Raw blog or the feed on Twitter.  And if you missed the conference in New York, please join us at the OMMA Metrics & Measurement in San Francisco on Friday July 31 when we do it all over again!

Why You Need to Go To The Yale Club

On Tuesday June 9th at the Yale Club in New York City, MediaPost will host the first OMMA Metrics and Measurement conference. For those of you who are long time readers, you’ll note that us metrics folks are always part of the OMMA conference series, but have never had our own day to dive into so many of the issues that we blog, Tweet and email about. The level of interest in this show has been high – and why not?  The topic of online measurement can be engaging and polarizing.  As I pointed out in my article last month, the passion can sometimes be a little over-the-top (just ask my husband who promptly gives me the “L” hand sign to the forehead when I start droning on about unique visitors or the battles of measuring the perfect level of engagement….I still love you dear).  However there are those of us who could close down the hotel lobby bar and still not be satisfied with the result of the discussion.

So why should you be there?  With the help of an advisory board (including our own Metrics Insider Josh Chasin), we’ve assembled a compelling list of topics and panelists.  Jeffrey Eisenberg from FutureNow will be opening up with our morning keynote.  If you know Jeffrey, he is not out on the public speaking circuit frequently, but when he is there he has a LOT to make you think about.  Highlights of some of the panels include:

Audience Measurement – How often do you get to see comScore, Nielsen and Quantcast together on stage at one time?  (Ok, it happens occasionally.)  I am throwing out the challenge to Joe Laszlo from the IAB to push these guys to talk about where we are today with this topic and where it is going next.

The Analytics Food Chain – near and dear to my heart, this panel will focus on how to use audience measurement, campaign and web analytics data interchangeably to make decisions about your online business.  The sources simply do not foot to each other (and frankly probably never will). I am excited about moderating this panel. We have a great lineup of agency, vendor and practitioners for the conversation.

Measuring Video – wow, this is a hot topic.  I think we all know that video is the hip kid on the block, but the interest level in measuring video is very high. Just check out the list of panelists and I’m sure you’ll see that we’ve assembled a solid crew.

Integrating Online and Offline Data – you database junkies should get in the front row to listen to this group.  We’ll leave the details of how to connect tables and index queries to the IT group and really focus on how to improve conversion, ROI and user targeting with data.

The “Ins and Outs” of Measuring Social Media – Widgets, social applications, blogs, UGC and Twitter (have I hit buzzword bingo yet?).  This panel should bode for a great discussion and is the last panel of the day – the only thing that will be standing between you and happy hour.

As you can see we have a great lineup! And yes, all of the cool kids will be there.  The day promises to be enlightening, compelling, provocative and engaging (is there a metric for each of those)? Check out the web site for panel additions and be sure to register.  June in New York is the best place to be.

This post was published in the MetricsInsider column in MediaPost on Friday May 15, 2009.