Protected: Ikanow: Creating Pathways through Information
March 1, 2012
DataSift Architecture
March 1, 2012
So you want to do “big data”? This is for the SEO, PR, and marketing consultants who assert that “big data” is part of their firms’ standard fanny pack. You can view the large version of this DataSift architecture image at http://yfrog.com/nuuwzp. DataSift, as you may know, processes the Twitter tweet stream. Yep, big data. The IT folks at the new age Madison Avenue firms have this type of technology with their Starbuck’s latte:
The DataSift Architecture: A Bird’s Eye View.
Trivial.for the SEO experts and former middle school English teachers.
Stephen E Arnold, March 1, 2012
Sponsored by Pandia.com
Exogenous Complexity 4: SEO and Big Data
February 29, 2012
Introduction
In the interview with Dr. Linda McIsaac, founder of Xyte, Inc., I learned that new analytic methods reveal high-value insights about human behavior. You can read the full interview in my Search Wizards Speak series at this link. The method involves an approach called Xyting and sophisticated analytic methods.
One example of the type of data which emerge from the Xyte method are these insights about Facebook users:
- Consumers who are most in tune with the written word are more likely to use Facebook. These consumers are the most frequent Internet users and use Facebook primarily to communicate with friends and connect with family.
- They like to keep their information up-to-date, meet new people, share photos, follow celebrities, share concerns, and solve people problems.
- They like to learn about and share experiences about new products. Advertisers should key in on this important segment because they are early adopters. They lead trends and influence others.
- The population segment that most frequents Facebook has a number of characteristics; for example, showing great compassion for others, wanting to be emotionally connected with others, having a natural intuition about people and how to relate to them, adapting well to change, embracing technology such as the Internet, and enjoying gossip and messages delivered in story form and liking to read and write.
- Facebook constituents are emotional, idealistic and romantic, yet can rationalize through situations. Many do not need concrete examples in order to comprehend new ideas.
I am not into social networks. Sure, some of our for-free content is available via social media channels, but where I live in rural Kentucky yelling down the hollow works quite well.
I read “How The Era Of ‘Big-Data’ Is Changing The Practice Of Online Marketing” and came away confused. You should work through the text, graphs, charts, and lingo yourself. I got a headache because most of the data struck me as slightly off center from what an outfit like Xyte has developed. More about this difference in a moment.
The thrust of the argument is that “big data” is now available to those who would generate traffic to client Web sites. Big data is described as “a torrent of digital data.” The author continues:
large sets of data that, when mined, could reveal insight about online marketing efforts. This includes data such as search rankings, site visits, SERPs and click-data. In the SEO realm alone at Conductor, for example, we collect tens of terabytes of search data for enterprise search marketers every month.
Like most SEO baloney, there are touchstones and jargon aplenty. For example, SERP, click data, enterprise search, and others. The intent is to suggest that one can pay a company to analyze big data and generate insights. The insights can be used to produce traffic to a Web page, make sales, or produce leads which can become sales. In a lousy business environment, such promises appeal to some people. Like most search engine optimization pitches, the desperate marketer may embrace the latest and greatest pitch. Little wonder there are growing numbers of unemployed professionals who failed to deliver the sales their employer wanted. The notion of desperation marketing fosters a services business who can assert to deliver sales and presumably job security for those who hire the SEO “experts.” I am okay with this type of business, and I am indifferent to the hollowness of the claims.
What interests me is this statement:
From our vantage point at Conductor, the move to the era of big data has been catalyzed by several distinct occurrences:
- Move to Thousands of Keywords: The old days of SEO involved tracking your top fifty keywords. Today, enterprise marketers are tracking up to thousands of keywords as the online landscape becomes increasingly competitive, marketers advance down the maturity spectrum and they work to continuously expand their zone of coverage in search.
- Growing Digital Assets: A recent Conductor study showed universal search results are now present in 8 out of 10 high-volume searches. The prevalence of digital media assets (e.g. images, video, maps, shopping, PPC) in the SERPs require marketers to get innovative about their search strategy.
- Multiple Search Engines: Early days of SEO involved periodically tracking your rank on Google. Today, marketers want to expand not just to Yahoo and Bing, but also to the dozens of search engines around the world as enterprise marketers expand their view to a global search presence.
All the above factors combined mean there are significant opportunities for an increase in both the breadth and volume of data available to search professionals.
Effective communication, in my experience, is not measured in “thousands of key words”. The notion of expanding the “zone of coverage” means that meaning is diffused. Of course, the intent of the key words is not getting a point across. The goal is to get traffic, make sales. This is the 2112 equivalent of the old America Online carpet bombing of CD ROMs decades ago. Good business for CD ROM manufacturers, I might add. Erosion of meaning opens the door to some exogenous complexity excitement I assert.
Hadoop Technology: Calling All Mathematicians!
February 26, 2012
Scalability and big data solutions are not simply buzzwords thrown around the search industry. These are both key items in assessing value of platforms, and are both key reasons users are drawn to Hadoop technology.
However, the fact that Hadoop is picking up steam poses a major problem to those attempting to find talent to work the technology. People experienced in Hadoop are hard to come by. Cloudera, IBM, Hortonworks, and MapR are all investing in Hadoop training programs, choosing to invest in internal candidates rather than trying to hire new talent. A related article on CIO.in, “Hadoop Wins Over Enterprise IT, Spurs Talent Crunch” asserts on the topic:
‘We originally thought we needed to find a hardcore Java developer,’ Return Path’s Sautins says. But in reality, the talent that’s best suited for working with Hadoop isn’t necessarily a Java engineer. ‘It’s somebody who can understand what’s going on in the cluster, is interested in picking up some of these tools and figuring out how they work together, and can deal with the fact that pretty much everything in the Hadoop ecosystem is not even a 1.0 release yet,’ Sautins says. ‘That’s a real skill set.’
The problem of finding talent could eventually limit the continued adoption of Hadoop technology. Search analytics is now opening doors for those with deep math skills and backgrounds in statistics and science. People with this basic skills can be taught how to use these tools, and will be very valuable to a great number of companies adopting this technology.
Andrea Hayden, February 26, 2012
Sponsored by Pandia.com
Lost in Dataspace? CA Erwin Can Help
February 24, 2012
Intuitive graphics and a search that looks like Google. That’s what CA Technologies proscribes for the non-techies who are being plunged into the cloud, ReadWriteWeb reveals in “Data Visualization for People Who Don’t Visualize Data: CA ERwin 8.2.” ERwin is a database visualization tool which has been evolving since 1998.
Writer Scott M. Fulton, III maintains that the moving of data from SQL databases to cloud storage has many organizations reexamining their data structure. ERWin’s Web portal can help business users better understand what they are looking at. The article relates:
[CA Technologies’ Donna] Burbank agrees that data modeling may never be appealing to 100% of the ‘sponsor’ audience [of database administrators]. But making it appeal to a somewhat greater audience through more intuitive graphics, along with Google-like search, could go a long way toward enabling those tasked with new responsibilities to be able to better understand what they are, and carry them out with a greater sense of confidence.
But will that confidence be misplaced? More consumerization is all well and good, but what happens if the underlying data do not meet standard tests for validity?
CA Technologies has been building IT management software for over 30 years. They pride themselves on providing agile solutions to business and government organizations in nearly every nation.
Cynthia Murrell, February 24, 2012
Sponsored by Pandia.com
Semantics Fuel Need for Analytics
February 22, 2012
Here’s a different approach to the “next big thing.” Network Computing insists, “Semantic Technology Key to Mastering Data Growth, Analysis.” The article examines the recent InformationWeek report titled Database Discontent.
It used to be that data analysis parameters were defined manually. However, says the report’s co-author David Read, that is becoming less and less feasible. Writer Chris Talbot explains:
With the significant depth and breadth of data contained inside and outside the enterprise, in addition to the high volume of transactions that are continually generating more data, there is no reasonable way for people to know where to look when seeking out actionable knowledge, Read said. Predictive analytics will likely outpace reporting and traditional business intelligence efforts in the future, and they will be used to inform SMEs [Subject Matter Experts] about where to invest their business intelligence efforts, he added.
SQL systems are fine for analyzing uniform data, he adds, but not the growing mounds of unstructured data. The report sees semantic technology as the answer to the problem. Talbot notes that these tools have both improved and come down in price over the last few years. The way things are going, that’s a very good thing.
Cynthia Murrell, February 22, 2012
Sponsored by Pandia.com
Improving Search with Behavioral Analyses
February 21, 2012
I wrote my KMWorld column about the interesting system and method developed by Dr. Linda McIsaac, president of Xyte, Inc. I learned about Xyte’s work in Washington, DC. A number of Federal entities tap her company for behavior-centric research.
I interviewed Dr. McIsaac on February 15, 2012, and the information I gathered struck me as important and highly relevant to enterprise search. With users of enterprise search systems expressing significant dissatisfaction with incumbent systems, licensing a new search engine should make people happy. Well, it does not. Traditional methods of figuring out what makes a user of a findability purr does not work particularly well.
Dr. McIsaac’s method may provide a solution. I have put the full text of our conversation on my Search Wizards Speak subsite. You can access the interview at this link.
Here’s an example of the outputs her research approach:
Xyte provides a system science model and a structure that identifies the way people function intellectually by classifying their cognitive information-processing capabilities presented as a logical system of relationships among various human capabilities. In simple terms, Xyte’s system provides a structure based on a proven theory which is predictive of the way individuals think and process information and then act consistently. No other system is predictive.
I was able to gather some information about the type of findings she delivers to clients. She told me:
Xyte surveyed each of what we call cognofiles or behavioral sets of the Xyting Insight™ system about usage of social media to determine who is most apt to use these computer applications. Not all consumers are eager to use Facebook or use it consistently. According a recent Xyte study, 27 percent of the population has never logged in to Facebook and another 20 percent only log in once or more a month. Data from our study suggest that some of the broad generalizations about social media, particularly as a replacement for a search system or face-to-face interaction are inaccurate. That means that advertisers are missing 47 percent of the population. However, 38 percent do log in daily and 16 percent do log in several times a week. The population segment that most frequents Facebook has a number of characteristics; for example, showing great compassion for others, wanting to be emotionally connected with others, having a natural intuition about people and how to relate to them, adapting well to change, embracing technology such as the Internet, and enjoying gossip and messages delivered in story form and liking to read and write.
For more information about Xyte, navigate to www.xyte.com. The complete interview is at http://www.arnoldit.com/search-wizards-speak/xyte.html
Stephen E Arnold, February 21, 2012
Sponsored by Pandia.com
Inteltrax: Top Stories, February 13 to February 17
February 20, 2012
Inteltrax, the data fusion and business intelligence information service, captured three key stories germane to search this week, specifically, some of the biggest trends in the big data industry.
Our story, “Smart Hires Make Analytics Run Smoother” weighed in on the debate that says big data is not for IT departments, but rather should be its own specialized department in companies.
“Analytic Spinoff Companies on the Rise” showed how companies like TruSignal which once dabbled in big data are now spinning off complete analytic agencies.
“Analytic Money Season is Here” detailed the start of the most exciting time of the year in business intelligence. This is when companies start reporting 2011 profits and last year was a big year, so we expect record numbers.
There are a million different directions big data analytics is heading. We are trying to keep our finger on each one of those pulses and you can come along for the ride every day.
Follow the Inteltrax news stream by visiting www.inteltrax.com.
Patrick Roland, Editor, Inteltrax, February 20, 2012
The Value of Stereotypes
February 20, 2012
The Google disclosure page has been a big topic of discussion recently, and for good reason.
The mega-search giant infers users’ age, gender, and interests. Even though the formula is not quite fully understood yet, some old-fashioned stereotypes are bubbling up.
Gawker.com’s article, “The Stereotypes Inside Google’s Supercomputer: A Partial List,” reveals some of these stereotypes which are emerging. For example, browsing cooking sites will typically peg you as a female, while being aware of events in the news causes Google to infer you are older. The article asserts:
As many a lady tech reporter has discovered, ogling e-gizmos virtually makes you a man. Wired.com’s Christina Bonnington, a gadget writer, looks at the occasional kitten video, but still shows up on Google as a 35-44 year old man thanks to her heavy tech browsing. The New York Times‘ Jenna Wortham is a 25-year-old man, as far as Google’s advertisers are concerned – and did we mention she’s one of their tech writers?
You can see what Google is inferring about you at www.google.com/ads/preferences. Google overestimated my age by twenty years, but was pretty spot on with my interests (Internet & Telecom, Food & Drink, and Cats.) I don’t ever approve of this big brother stuff, especially when it ages me so.
Andrea Hayden, February 20, 2012
Sponsored by Pandia.com
Social Media Analytics: Relationships with End User Consumers
February 18, 2012
Text Analytics News recently partnered with Useful Social Media to publish a series of interviews with experts in the field of Social Media Analytics. The second installment focuses on the relationships between vendors and their end user consumers.
“Social Media Analytics Expert Interview Series: Part 2” is conducted by the Chief Editor of Text Analytics news, Ezra Steinberg. The interview panel includes: Meta Brown, General Manager of Analytics at LinguaSys; Christine Campbell, Director of Marketing at Socialware; and Pirouz Nilforoush, President & Co-Founder of NetShelter Technology Media. All three interviewees will be speaking at the Social Media Analytics Summit in San Francisco in April. The interview sheds some light on customer interaction; some helpful questions and responses from the interview follow:
“USM: What do you believe the average consumer thinks about companies’ social media listening initiatives?
Nilforoush (Netshelter): I think the average consumer is confused as to why different brands are initiating conversations with them online that can resemble advertising or spam. Brands need to focus their efforts around engaging their top influencers, rather than trying to engage with every single person that has something to say about their brand. It is not a scalable model for the brands and can be annoying for the end user. Instead, brands should focus their efforts on the people that have the biggest impact on their brand. These influencers will do the work for brands on their own and impact the masses.
USM: What would you tell someone who is thinking about employing social media analytics for their company?
Brown (LinguaSys): Start with just one narrow project tied to a specific business problem. Choose something where you feel confident that quick improvement is possible. Plan carefully – what’s the path from data collection to analytics to action to returns? Give yourself the best opportunity to succeed – don’t begin until you have made a plan that gives you a way to demonstrate measurable value for your investment in social analytics!
The interview focuses on planning for implementation of social media analytics and consumer’s thoughts on the topic. Many organizations would benefit by considering the opinions and thoughts provided by these leaders in social media. The full interview can be found here and can give insight on building relationships via social media and what to anticipate during the process.
Andrea Hayden, February 18, 2012
Sponsored by Pandia.com
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