Module No-1
Social Media Analytics: An Overview
Social Media:
● Social media is digital technology that allows the sharing of ideas and
information, including text and visuals, through virtual networks and
communities.
● Social media typically features user-generated content that lends itself to
engagement via likes, shares, comments, and discussion.
● More than 5 billion people around the world use social media.
● Social media is credited with helping people build community and faulted
for facilitating disinformation and hate speech.
● Social media is also an increasingly important part of many companies’
marketing campaigns.
● The largest social media platforms worldwide are Facebook, YouTube,
WhatsApp, Instagram, etc.
Advantages of Social Media:
1. Staying Connected: Enables people to stay in touch with friends, family,
and colleagues, regardless of geographical location.
2. Access to News and Current Events: Offers real-time updates on global
events and breaking news.
3. Platform for Personal Branding: Allows individuals to build their
personal or professional brand.
4. Business and Marketing Opportunity: Provides businesses with a
platform for reaching customers and promoting their products/services.
5. Convenience and Ease of Access: Easy access to a variety of services,
information, and entertainment from one platform.
6. Fosters Innovation and Learning: Encourages creativity, idea-sharing, and
access to a wide range of learning resources.
7. Provides Entertainment: Offers various forms of entertainment such as
videos, memes, and music.
8. Platform for Societal Change: Facilitates social movements and raises
awareness about various causes.
9. Promotes Skill Development: Social media offers opportunities for skill-
sharing and learning, from hobbies to professional development.
[Link] to Education: Can be used as an educational tool to connect
students and educators or to share knowledge.
Disadvantages of Social Media:
1. Distraction and Loss of Productivity: Time spent on social media can
detract from work, studies, or other important tasks.
2. Spread of Misinformation: Unverified and false information can quickly
spread, leading to confusion and misinformation.
3. Compromise Privacy and Data Vulnerabilities: Personal data can be at
risk of being misused or exposed by companies or malicious actors.
4. Promotes Superficial Connections: Social media relationships can
sometimes lack depth and genuine connection.
5. Social Media Addiction: Excessive use can lead to unhealthy dependence
on social platforms, disrupting real-life interactions.
6. Enables Bullying and Harassment: Anonymity can embolden harmful
behavior like cyberbullying and harassment.
7. Promotes Social Isolation: Paradoxically, too much online interaction can
result in feelings of loneliness or social detachment.
8. Causes Depression and Anxiety: The pressures of curating a perfect online
persona or dealing with negative feedback can negatively affect mental
health.
9. Promotes Obsessive Self-Presentation: Social media can encourage an
unhealthy focus on appearance and self-image.
[Link] Spread Scams and Frauds: Fraudulent schemes, scams, and
phishing attempts can thrive on social media platforms.
CORE CHARACTERISTICS OF SOCIAL MEDIA
All these properties play an important role in creating a collaborative ecosystem.
1) SOCIAL MEDIA IS MANY-TO-MANY
Social media enables interaction among the users in a many-to-many fashion.
This is unlike conventional technological media such as print, radio, telephone,
and television.
2) SOCIAL MEDIA IS PARTICIPATORY
Unlike conventional technologies, social media encourages participation and
feedback from users. Social media users can participate in online discourse
through blogging, comments, tagging, and sharing content.
3) SOCIAL MEDIA IS USER OWNED
While social media platforms are provided by corporations (such as Google
and Facebook), the content is generated, owned, and controlled by social
media users. Without the user-generated contents and active involvement
from the users, social media would be empty, boring online spaces.
4) SOCIAL MEDIA IS CONVERSATIONAL
It is not only the ease of conversation but also the many-to-many
conversation abilities that make social media stand out from the traditional
one-to-one or one to- many medium of interaction. The many-to-many
conversation characteristics of social media make it possible for the masses
to communication and collaborate in real time.
5) SOCIAL MEDIA ENABLES OPENNESS
Social media provides new opportunities to access data and information through
Web 2.0 channels.
6) SOCIAL MEDIA ENABLES MASS COLLABORATION
Social media channels allow masses to collaborate in a many-to-many fashion
to achieve certain shared goals.
7) SOCIAL MEDIA IS RELATIONSHIP ORIENTED
Most social media tools allow users to easily establish and maintain social and
professional relationships and ties. Some social media tools, such as Facebook,
are solely focused on personal relationships, whereas others, such as Twitter,
are focused on professional relationships.
8) SOCIAL MEDIA IS FREE AND EASY TO USE
Being free and easy to use are two of the reasons that social media has
proliferated in such a space.
TYPES OF SOCIAL MEDIA
Based on authentication or access mechanisms, social media tools are available in
two forms:
1) Internet-based, and
2) smartphone-based.
Internet-based social media platforms are generally accessed through e-mail IDs.
Facebook, LinkedIn, Cyworld, and Google+ are examples of Internet-based social
media. Note that an Internet-based social media platform can also be accessed
through any device connected to the Internet, including a smartphone application
(or app for short), but the authentication mechanism is still the same. Whereas,
smartphone-based social media platforms are accessed through mobile phone
numbers; that is, users can only log in using mobile phone numbers. KaKao Talk,
Tender, and 1KM are the popular example of phone-based social network services.
1) SOCIAL NETWORKING SITES(SNS)
Social networks sites or services (SNS) are types of social media platforms that are
solely focused on online social relationships among users. Some examples of SNS
include Facebook, Google. SNS allow users to build and maintain social
relationships among people who share interests, activities, backgrounds, or real-life
connections. Most SNS allow “users to construct a public or semipublic profile, (2)
establish links (friendship) and relationships with other SNS users, and (3) view
and traverse their list of connections and those made by others within the system.”
Currently, there are two versions of SNS, a publicly available and a business SNS.
For example, in addition to its public version, Facebook recently announced
releasing a business social networking site, “Facebook at Work,” aimed at
cooperate users and allowing them to create social networks and collaborate.
2) USING FACEBOOK FOR BUSINESS PURPOSES
Facebook is an online social network service or site where users can create
profiles; upload photos and video; send messages; and keep in touch with friends,
family and colleagues. Apart from its primary function as an online social network
site, Facebook has become an important marketing and outreach channel for all
sorts of organizations including governments. How can business benefit from
Facebook? The answer is Facebook pages or fan pages. Fan pages can serve as
excellent advertisement and networking channels with your customers. Facebook
fan pages are a great way to connect and network with customers.
3) CONTENT COMMUNITIES
Content communities, such as YouTube and Flicker, are defined by “a group of
people coalescing online around an object of interest held in common. The
object can be just about anything for example, photos, videos, links, topic or
issue and is often organized and developed in a way that either includes social
network elements or makes them central to the content.” The most popular content
community site is YouTube.
4) USING YOUTUBE FOR BUSINESS PURPOSES
YouTube is a video-sharing website on which users can upload, view, and share
videos. An important feature of YouTube is the YouTube channel. A YouTube
channel is a public online space (or page) on YouTube. A YouTube channel allows
you to upload videos, leave comments, or make playlists. Businesses from around
the world use YouTube channels in a variety of ways. For example, it is a great
way to advertise, educate customers by uploading training materials, awareness
videos, information about your product and services. Khan Academy
([Link] is a great example of the effective use of
educational videos on YouTube.
5) BLOGS
A blog is a type of online personal space or website where an individual (or
organization) posts content (text, images, videos, and links to other sites) and
expresses opinions on matters of personal (or organizational) interest on a regular
basis. Mostly, blogging does not require technical know-how or programming
skills, so ordinary users can easily build and manage a professional-looking blog.
BLOG FEATURES
Important features of a blog include:
Interactivity—Readers have the ability to leave comments in response to a blog
post. Archives—Blogs provide archives of past blog entries stored in reverse
chronological order (that is, the most recent appears first). Subscription—Internet
users can subscribe to blogs. Subscribed users are alerted when new content is
posted on the blog.
Focused—Most blogs are focused on a certain area of interest.
6) USING BLOGS FOR BUSINESS PURPOSES
An official business blog is not just a business diary or journal, but a great way to
build a community of readers and receive early and direct feedback on business
issues and solicit innovative ideas.
7) MICROBLOGGING
Microblogging is a miniature version of blogging that allows users to
exchange/publish brief messages, including text, images, or links to other
websites. The most popular microblogging platform is Twitter.
Twitter is an online microblogging service that enables users to send and
read short messages commonly known as “tweets.” A tweet is a text message
limited to one hundred forty characters.
Basic Twitter terminologies.
Tweet
A tweet is a one hundred forty-character message posted via Twitter. You can also
include links and pictures in a tweet.
Retweet (RT)
A retweet is a reposting of someone else’s tweet or message. One way to gauge the
popularity of your tweets is by measuring retweets. Popular tweets get reposted
many times.
Direct messages
Unlike a tweet, which is public and seen by everyone, a direct message is a
personal tweet (like e-mail) seen only by the sender and the recipient. However, a
direct message can only be sent to people following you.
Following
Following is how you subscribe to other people over Twitter. On Twitter,
following someone means that: You are subscribing to their tweets as a follower
(their tweets will appear on your Twitter main page). Their updates will appear in
your Home tab. That person is able to send you direct messages.
Followers
Followers are people who follow you over Twitter. If someone follows you it
means that:
They will show up in your followers list.
They will see your tweets in their home timeline whenever they log in to
Twitter. You can send them direct messages.
Mention
When another user includes your username preceded by the @ symbol in a
tweet, it is called a “mention.” Your Mentions tab (on the Notifications page)
collects tweets that mention you by your username so you can keep track of
conversations others are having with you. Number of mentions is an indication of
influence or popularity.
Hashtags (#)
The hashtag (#) symbol is used to mark keywords or topics in a tweet. It is an
easy way to categorize messages. Clicking on a hashtagged word in any message
shows you all other tweets marked with that keyword.
8) USING TWITTER FOR BUSINESS PURPOSES
Twitter is a great way to keep your customers informed. Businesses from around
the world use Twitter to keep customers informed by disseminating news and
information almost in real time. Setting up Twitter is a very simple process.
However, it should not be taken lightly, as the Twitter channel will officially
represent your organization. Before proceeding to setup, do a little bit of
planning.
9) ONLINE COLLABORATIVE PROJECTS
Wikipedia is an example of online collaborative projects. Online collaborative
projects/tools allow people to plan, coordinate, add, control, and monitor content in
collaboration with others. At the core of the online collaborative projects is the
concept of wiki. A wiki is a type online content management system that allows
users to add, modify, or delete content simultaneously in collaboration with others.
Famous examples of wiki-based platforms are Wikipedia and wikispaces.
10) USING WIKIS FOR BUSINESS PURPOSES
Wikis are a great way to communicate and collaboratively work on projects with
other people. Wikipedia has more than thirty million articles in 287 languages
written collaboratively by volunteers around the world. However, Wikipedia is just
one type of website built on the wiki model. There are several other notable wikis.
Google ([Link]) provides project wikis that can be configured for
business purposes.
11) VIRTUAL WORLDS
Virtual worlds is computer-generated online environments. It can take the form of
a three-dimensional (3-D) virtual social world (e.g., Second Life) where people
digitally represent themselves in the form of avatars and interact with others
through text and voice messaging. It can also take a form of virtual interactive
games, such as World of Warcraft. Mostly, the virtual world environment is
created by the users themselves. Virtual reality is another dimension of virtual
worlds, where real and virtual are fused together. Virtual reality uses computer
software and hardware tools to simulate physical presence the virtual world.
12) MOBILE APPS
Mobile apps are becoming an integral part of our lives. Mobile apps are special
purpose tools developed to perform a variety of activities we do every day while
on the move, such as communicating, social networking, sharing information, and
shopping.
13) PURPOSE-BUILT PLATFORMS
Social media is not only limited to the aforementioned types, but any online
platform (including purposely built in-house platforms) that enable us to
participate, collaborate, create, and share content in a many-to-many context can
be called social media. Content can be anything, including information,
audio/video, profiles, photographs, text, etc. Organizations are increasingly
creating purpose-built social media platforms for inter-organizational
collaboration activities. A good example of such a platform is the Enterprise 2.0,
(which uses social media tools (such as blogs, wikis, and group
messaging software) to allow employees, suppliers, and customers to network
together and share information.
OR
Types of social media
(1) Social networking
(2) Photo and image sharing
(3) Video sharing
(4) Audio sharing
(5) Live streaming
(6) Social messaging
(7) Disappearing content apps
(8) Social shopping networks
(9) Interactive social media apps
(10) Discussion forums
(11) Microblogging platforms
(12) Community blogging sites
(13) Social review sites
(14) Social curation and bookmarking sites
Social Media Vs Traditional Media – Key Differences
SEVEN LAYERS OF SOCIAL MEDIA ANALYTICS
Social media at a minimum has seven layers of data. Each layer
carries potentially valuable information and insights that can be harvested for
business intelligence purposes. Out of the seven layers, some are visible or easily
identifiable (e.g., text and actions) and other are invisible (e.g., social media and
hyperlink networks.
1. Text
2. Networks
3. Actions
4. Hyperlinks
5. Mobile
6. Location
7. Search engines
LAYER ONE: TEXT
Social media text analytics deals with the extraction and analysis of business
insights from textual elements of social media content, such as comments, tweets,
blog posts, and Facebook status updates. Text analytics is mostly used to
understand social media users sentiments or identify emerging themes and topics.
LAYER TWO: NETWORKS
Social media network analytics extract, analyze, and interpret personal and
professional social networks, for example, Facebook, Friendship Network, and
Twitter. Network analytics seeks to identify influential nodes (e.g., people and
organizations) and their position in the network.
LAYER THREE: ACTIONS
Social media actions analytics deals with extracting, analyzing, and interpreting the
actions performed by social media users, including likes, dislikes, shares,
emotions, and endorsement. Actions analytics are mostly used to measure
popularity, influence, and prediction in social media.
LAYER FOUR: MOBILE
Mobile analytics is the next frontier in the social business landscape. Mobile
analytics deals with measuring and optimizing user engagement with mobile
applications (or apps for short).
LAYER FIVE: HYPERLINKS
Hyperlink analytics is about extracting, analyzing, and interpreting social media
hyperlinks (e.g., in-links and out-links). Hyperlink can reveal, for example,
Internet traffic patterns and sources of incoming or outgoing traffic to and from a
source.
LAYER SIX: LOCATION
Location analytics, also known as spatial analysis or geospatial analytics, is
concerned with mining and mapping the locations of social media users, contents,
and data.
LAYER SEVEN: SEARCH ENGINES
Search engines analytics focuses on analyzing historical search data for gaining a
valuable insight into a range of areas, including trends analysis, keyword
monitoring, search result and advertisement history, and advertisement spending
statistics.
Examples of social media analytics tools
Text
Discovertext
Lexalytics
Tweet Archivist
Twitonomy
Netlytic
LIWC
Voyant
Actions
Lithium
Twitonomy
Google Analytics
SocialMediaMineR
Network
NodeXL
UCINET
Pajek
Netminer
Flocker
Netlytic
Reach
Mentionmapp
Mobile
Countly
Mixpanel
Google Mobile Analytics
Google Fusion Table
Location
Google Fusion Table
Tweepsmap
Trendsmap
Followerwonk
Esri Maps
Agos
Hyperlinks
Webometrics Analyst
VOSON
Research Engines
Google Trends