Overview of Blog Analytics

Most of my friends ask me about blog analytics – what exactly is blog analytics and how we do it?

Well, blog analytics is quite an interesting field, if you like reading blogs or are a blogger yourself. It’s quite simple, yet intriguing as one needs to be creative and capture insights from the blogs.

Off late, most of the US corporations are getting involved in blog analytics or as some people name it as brand reputation management. I cannot highlight the importance of listening to the “voice of customers” and acting upon it.

One of the best ways to gauge customers opinions is via Social Media (especially blogs), whereas other mediums of Social Media, such as podcasts are mostly used while promoting the brand.

How we get started on blog analytics?

· Identify keywords on which you need to run your search on

· Define the time frame

· Identify blog search engines

· OR alternatively run a search with specific keywords within a defined time frame on a web crawler

Metrics used in Blog analytics:

· Tonal analysis

· Thematical analysis

· Ascertaining the sentiments of the consumers

· Identifying connectors/Influencers

o Number of comments

o Trackbacks

o Profile of the author

o Frequency of occurrence

· Top URL’s and domains

· Recommendations on changing sentiments of consumers or/and online promotion of
products on top occurring domains/blogs

These are the metrics that I’ve used in blog analytics. If anyone is aware of any other metrics that are being widely used, please feel free to drop a note and we can discuss.

Blogsophere talked about in HT

I was reading an article in paper today about lift of ban on cheerleaders during IPL matches being played in Mumbai.

Before closing the article, the author talked about this topic being talked about in blogosphere; that caught my attention. I was amazed to read that a topic like this is being discussed in blogs – great!!...means Social Media has finally made a mark in India.

I’m not saying that people weren’t really blogging about these topics/issues earlier; however, this is a new phenomenon that newspapers are validating their stories and adding details by giving it a people’s perspective.

Ban on cheerleaders for vulgarity issues is a decision to be taken by the government, however who can define vulgarity? It’s the people (us) who can add more to it.

There was an amazing quote in that newspaper, taken from some blog - “There are a million problems in Maharashtra for the deputy chief minister (RR Patil) to attend to, and the man chooses to get worked up over cheerleaders”

It’s great to see that tracking blogs and forums is just not a western concept anymore. In the US, most companies are indulging in brand reputation management (via blogs) and acting on the suggestions of the consumers. Let alone, corporations, the US elections and Oscar’s were heavily talked about in the blogosphere Neilson also published a report on “What's the Buzz on the Oscars?” that tracked the discussions in the blogs.

More on Blog Analytics in subsequent posts.

Coming Soon

Next post - Social Media and India

Love - Do we actually know the meaning of this word?

I spent this weekend watching movies….saw four movies - "50 First Dates", "Ratatouille", "Cruel Intentions", and "City of Angels".

Somehow this time I wanted to watch romantic movies, unlike my craving for horror movies all the time. I guess it’s that time of my life when one wants to feel that mush and have that craving to fall in love…..anyhow, nothing of this sort is happening in my life, and I have no love life!

Ratatouille isn’t a romantic movie nor Cruel Intentions (to some extent) – however someone recommended Cruel Intentions, so I saw it. I didn’t like it that much. Still, there’s one thing to ponder upon, that love – “true love” can even melt a womanizer, and he can genuinely fall in love with someone, to the extent he can lay his life for that special someone! Amazing, but how true in real context?! I haven’t met anyone in my lifetime who can lay his life for the one he loves. It looks good in just movies and books, however its far away from reality.

Ratatouille is a story of a chef rat – animated movie and a really nice story. I somehow have a liking for animated movies – thanks to someone! However we haven’t seen an animated movie together :-) The movie highlights the fact that “if you have a will to do something, you can achieve it”, a beautifully scripted movie, that made even the disgusting rats look adorable.

Now, talking about the romantic movies, well well….50 First Dates – lovely movie…it’s amazing to see how Adam Sandler makes this girl (Drew Barrymore) fall in love with him every day as the girl suffers from short memory, and her memory lasted for just one day. Every day is a “new” day for her – as if the previous day never existed. Quite a touchy movie, however I tend to question myself if any guy would have this much patience in real life? I doubt that!!! I don’t think anyone can love someone to this extent that he would leave everything aside, and just spend the rest of life to spend a “new” day with someone he loves madly. This love is bound to fade and the guy would have given up, had this been the case in real life- that’s why we say “real life is different from reel life”. I claim that I’ve loved someone too much in this lifetime, if I ask this question to myself – can I make someone fall in love with me everyday? ..hmm....Probably, I can do this!....I guess I can…

Talking about the best amongst the lot… City of Angels. The first half of the movie was okay, it didn’t grip me much, however in the second half my eyes were popping out and I was staring at the screen, trying to hear every word that was being said. An angel (Nicholas Cage) falls in love with a doctor (Meg Ryan), and he sacrifices everything for this girl, and becomes a human – just because he wanted to spend his life with that girl, he wanted to feel her. However, life’s never fair – neither to humans nor to angels; and Meg Ryan dies. This was tragic, as he foregoes his being an angel for a human, and that person was snatched away from him. At this point, another angel comes up to Nicholas Cage and asks him, “if u knew this was to happen, would you have done it?”…his answer was this, and these are the most beautiful words in the movie….

“I would rather have had...

...one breath of her hair...

...one kiss of her mouth...

...one touch of her hand...

...than an eternity without it"

This is what I call true love…. I hope when people say that they are in love, they should think twice, and ask themselves do they really know the meaning of love!

Strabucks ad for the Holiday Season

Just saw this Starbucks ad, designed by Wieden + Kennedy in December 2007 "The Holiday Season - Pass the Cheer BearHug"