Analyzing Traffic on Social Media
This idiosyncratic list of free analytics tools is not intended to be balanced or
exhaustive. No endorsements implied, other than that some may prove useful in some
situations.--Zhenya Gallon (zhenya@ucar.edu)
In general
A best practice for reputation monitoring is to create Google searches on the name
of your organization, major spokespeople, and other important keywords. Use
Google's "alert" feature to have search results emailed to you at regular intervals.
Includes Web and Google News results.
http://www.google.com/alerts
Blogs
Google provides a separate search and alert system
http://blogsearch.google.com
Facebook Page or Group
A) Traffic analysis
Facebook provides two free services: Post Analytics & Insights
Log in to the FB account you use to administer your page/group to see:
Post Analytics
Facebook writes:
Admins of authentic Pages can now see data on the performance of each of
their posts. Each post now displays (to admins only) how many impressions
the post has received (how many times it has been displayed to all users) and
its feedback percentage, which is based on how many comments and Likes
have been left on the post. This will allow Page admins to see which content
better engages their fans.
Insights
Facebook writes:
Facebook Insights measures user exposure, actions, and behavior relating to
your Social Ads and Facebook Page.
Only Page admins can view this information, and it is displayed in the left
column of the Page. To view comprehensive Insights, click "See All" in the left
column.
Weekly Insights email
UCAR Communications
www.ucar.edu
Social Media in the Workplace - Measuring Up Conference 2010
Facebook automatically sends a weekly Insights update to the email associated with
your account.
Exporting Insight data
Facebook writes:
Currently, you can only export data from the older version of Page Insights.
In order to access this material, click the "Switch to the Old Insights" link
near at the top of the page and you will see an "Export Data" link.
B) Reputation & topic monitoring
Because Facebook is a closed community, it's difficult to monitor posts from anyone
who's not your friend or fan. Google searches do include anything a Facebook user
designates as public data, so do keep an eye out for Facebook activity in your Google
alerts (see "In general," above).
YouTube Channel
Apply for educational or nonprofit status to get extra features.
YouTube EDU
Currently restricted to 4-year bachelor's granting institutions.
http://spreadsheets.google.com/viewform?hl=en&formkey=cDN6Y056M1Vs
NHAyOXc2Unp6QUJCU0E6MA
Nonprofit Program
http://www.youtube.com/ngo_apply
A) Traffic analysis



Log in to your administrator account
From administrator dropdown list, select "Account"
At upper left of screen, under "My Account," click on the "Insight" link
B) Reputation & topic monitoring
Sign up to receive e-mail notices whenever someone posts a comment, subscribes,
or makes a friend request
http://video.google.com/videosearch
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Twitter
Hundreds of free applications are available, and new ones are continually
introduced. Caveat: some will go away, others will be hacked or are themselves
malware. Twitter has been doing a good job responding to hacking and
impersonation. Twitter's "Help" resources are useful here (see
http://help.twitter.com/entries/31796-my-account-is-compromised-hacked).
Many tools do more than one thing. We've grouped them below based on their
primary strengths. These are a drop in the bucket from the ocean that's out there.
A) Daily posting and monitoring
Tweetdeck
Cross posting to Facebook accounts and/or pages, good visual display of keyword
monitoring, URL shortening, clear displays, etc.
http://www.tweetdeck.com
SocialOomph (formerly called Tweet Later)
Multiple admins, upload now to tweet later, autogenerate "thanks for following us"
messages, keyword alerts
http://www.socialoomph.com
B) Reputation & topic monitoring
Twitterfall
http://twitterfall.com
Tweetcloud
http://tweetcloud.com
Google
New tools announced just last week, including monitoring of tweets in real time and
archival searching. See, for example:
http://www.pcworld.com/article/194346/google_rolls_out_two_new_
twitter_tools.html
C) Analytics
Twitter Analyzer
Fine-grained follower analysis, including: followers online during past hour, global
density map; top 10 for: occupations, action verbs used, retweeters, more. No data
export features
http://twitteranalyzer.com
Does Follow
Answers the question: Does x follow y?
http://doesfollow.com
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Friend or Follow
Answers the questions: Who are you following that's not following you back? Who's
following you that you're not following back?
http://friendorfollow.com
Twitter Grader
Compare follower stats between you and a "competitor," see whether you're
following what the service considers best practices, etc.
http://twitter.grader.com
TweetStats
Mostly about you rather than your followers
http://tweetstats.com
Consider paying for analysis tools
Many of the tools described above also offer "premium" editions for a fee. If you're
not getting the analytics you need to do your job and/or justify it to others, many of
these services offer a free, limited-time trial of their paid services.
Stay current
Trends and tools are constantly evolving, so keep up with the literature about social
media. There's a wide range of news, commentary, and analysis being generated by
reporters, tip purveyors, business analysts, and academics of all stripes.
Home in on people writing about the social media you use or trends in your niche.
Search for and subscribe to blogs, online journals, and social media channels of
writers that interest you. For example:
 mashable.com
 techcrunch.com
 technorati.com
 contentious.com
 shirky.com
 buzzmachine.com
 etc.
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