Comments on: The richness of Twitter

By: jasonkapler

jasonkapler — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 05:01:45 +0000

Felix, I agree with you that Twitter is a rich experience and better than any news outlet. The comparison that people make between news from Twitter and news delivered via other media is frankly unfair. It’s a false dilemma that maybe sounds great in a headline, but has no basis in the consumer experience. Ultimately the emergence of new communication technologies influences how information is delivered in complimentary ways.

However, I disagree that there is no value in analyzing social or Twitter data in aggregate. And your point of view is evidence that these technology platforms have an obligation to bring improved analytics to the masses so we can all better understand what people are saying about topics and not just the top mentioned topics.

What do I mean? I work at Networked Insights and we analyze social data for networks, brands and agencies. When we look at social data in aggregate by topic, let’s say NFL Football, you can begin to ask questions (queries) about that audience and find out what TV shows they’re talking about. Or you can look in aggregate at a product category to understand the brands people discuss and the way they experience those products. Lastly, we examine audiences and discover what’s trending, let’s say with moms, so companies can make more informed marketing decisions, for example what celebrity to place in an upcoming advertising campaign.

I share these examples of how social data can inform media buying, product development, and brand marketing to illustrate one of the benefits in aggregating and analyzing data – the discovery of insights. What’s fascinating is the real-time element. You can imagine how real-time insights will start to inform decision making. The information could be so valuable that it will affect decision cycles converting them from static moments of conclusions to ongoing, real-time calibration.

Clearly, this is an emerging technology capability where today only a limited group have purview into the possibilities. Networked Insights is working on bringing this capability to many organizations and we’d enjoy the opportunity to show you more someday. Maybe we’d be able to sway Michelle’s feelings too. :-)

Hope to see you at the Dumbo Arts Center! Looks like a cool exhibit.

Jason Kapler

By: tonyfratto

tonyfratto — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 22:09:47 +0000

“Mine, for instance, contains more news than any individual publication in the world — and it brings that news to me fast, in a witty and personalized way. It’s the single most valuable news source I have…”

Yep – well put, Felix. t

By: wdcrozer

wdcrozer — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 22:00:43 +0000

I agree with the your idealized version of Twitter and the rich fabric that it can be however there is a banal side to Twitter, usually focused around trending topics like #sidegirlbirthdaygifts or #PlacesIveHadSex that make it more like the community bathroom wall, that are as entertaining today as Benny Hill was when I was a kid.

By: Sprizouse

Sprizouse — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 05:14:09 +0000

FrugalDad’s infographic smacks of the whole “Kids These Days” zombie argument that is probably older than civilization itself and has less to do with reality than it did 2,000-years ago. It’s just a tired excuse to be cranky and claim that “this generation” doesn’t get it, or doesn’t understand, or is going to hell… even when things like the Flynn Effect decidedly say this isn’t so.

To make my point, I’ll quote from Montesquieu who wrote some 200-odd years ago, “Horace and Aristotle have told us of the virtues of their fathers and the vices of their own times and authors down the centuries have done the same. If they were right, men would now be bears.”

By: carterj98

carterj98 — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 03:59:29 +0000

Twitter is the way I keep up with you, Simon Johnson, Mark Thoma, others who can keep me informed, as well as a few friends. No celebrities. :-) Glad you’re there.

By: GRRR

GRRR — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 02:24:58 +0000

Oh, and the worst abuser of the infographics: fastcodesign. At first I tolerated it, but then, one day they presented a clearly biased infographic, and I challenged the data behind it.

Instead, I got blowback on how the visuals were more important.

At that point, I stopped my RSS feed from fastcodesign, and searched out better sources of design-related feeds.

By: GRRR

GRRR — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 02:15:43 +0000

Twitter is for Twits…sorry.

Infographics is just the next bane of ADHD, following Twitter. Before that, there was Powerpoint for ADHD.