Social Networks
Entries related to social networks, group psychology, anthropology, and really any of the social sciences.
Using Graphviz, Drupal and Google Analytics to Display Keyword Relationships
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Tue, 04/13/2010 - 08:45Recently, I started experimenting with the Google Analytics API. Using it, you can extract data from Google Analytics for whatever processing you might want to do. My first attempt was to access Google Analytics to see who is viewing the most pages on my site when the come from an EntreCard inbox. Yesterday, I went a bit further and used php and graphviz in Drupal to create a graph of the relationship of keywords used to access a site.
Here is a graph of the relationship of the most frequently used keywords for Orient Lodge over the past few days:
For the geeky details, read on.
#blogchat – A Review
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Mon, 04/12/2010 - 09:26Last night, I stumbled into another #blogchat. This is a chat about blogs that takes place on Twitter. I’ve had mixed feelings about the blogchats, sometimes they seem too focused on the relationship between blogs and marketing and miss many other aspects of what makes blogging wonderful.
The discussion last night focused on metrics. What tools do you use to measure your blog traffic? Which metrics are of the most value? How does this relate to the overall goal of the blog?
There was a lot of interest in Google Analytics. I brought up writing PHP code to customize Google Analytics data, like I did for ecanalytics which I use regularly. I’m also thinking of building a tool that generates a word cloud of search terms. However, most people weren’t all that interested in that aspect of Google Analytics.
One very useful suggestion from the blogchat was to filter out your own IP address when looking at Google Analytics. You can find out more about how to do this on the Google Analytics blog.
There was a good discussion about the value of Search Engine Optimization (SEO) versus customer interaction. Again, this reflects a marketing perspective, but if you change customer to reader, you get a broader idea that still fits. I tweeted, “SEO v Cust interactions: SEO is for getting new readers. Cust interaction is for keeping them”.
As to the bounce rate, I tweeted, “As to bounce rates, I like mine high. It means that ppl are finding what they want w/o having to click on extra pages”. Some of my regular readers will recognize that as a familiar refrain of mine. However, others on the blogchat found this an “interesting perspective”.
People commented that a high bounce rate could also mean “they don't like your site and are outta there!” and another asked “Would you not want reader to stick around for more content?” Again, my thought is coming from the regular reader perspective. My hope is to develop loyal readers that will regularly visit my site. I would prefer to see them exhibit their willingness to stick around by coming back as regular readers and see what is new each day, than by visiting just once and looking around for more content.
Looking at my own analytics, I find that returning visitors have a higher bounce rate and visit fewer pages, as I would suspect, although the difference is smaller than I would have suspected. My returning visitors has remained fairly steady, very slowly inching upward. My new visitors show much more variation.
A final topic was about which sites seem to give the best metrics. Alexa was generally not well regarded. Some asked if it was useful at least for trending analysis. Yet even for that, Alexa seems to change their algorithms enough so that it is not very reliable for trending data. Besides Google Analytics, Quantcast and Compete were listed as the most credible sites for traffic data.
A side discussion also came up about RSS data. If people are reading your content via an RSS feed, it isn’t showing up in a lot of the traffic analysis. Personally, I’m more interested in people reading my content than I am in my own ability to quantify my traffic. Of course, all of this comes back to what are you trying to do with your blog. I am working on improving my writing, sharing my ideas with others, and gaining new perspectives. Keyword analytics can help me to find what others have found interesting. Traffic analysis can help me find other sites where people might be interested in what I’m saying and where I may be interested in what is being said. In addition, I can get a general sense of how things are going.
These goals may be different with some people’s marketing goals. It may overlap with others. The bottom line is to focus on the goal of the blog, and use analytics to see what you can do to better achieve these goals, and not make analytics a goal in and of itself.
So, what do you think? How much do you look at the analytics for your site? Are there things that I should be considering to help me better reach my goals?
The Impact of the Internet on Institutions in the Future
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Sun, 04/11/2010 - 14:17A recent report by the Pew Internet and American Life Project, The Impact of the Internet on Institutions in the Future suggests:
Most surveyed believe that innovative forms of online cooperation could result in more efficient and responsive for-profit firms, non-profit organizations, and government agencies by the year 2020.
Mostly, the people surveyed were ‘technology experts and stakeholders’ who would be expected to believe that technology is going to make things better.
Recall Congress Now reports that
A New Jersey Appellate Court, in a March 16th unanimous ruling, paved the way for the first ever recall effort of a U.S. Senator. After originally being denied their constitutional right last September by the New Jersey Secretary of State for the circulation of petitions to recall Senator Menendez, The Committee to Recall Robert Menendez sued, taking their case to the New Jersey court…and won. The American Civil Rights Union (ACRU) was the only outside organization that filed an amicus brief with the Court supporting The Committee to Recall Senator Robert Menendez, the group formed by NJ Tea Parties United and the
Sussex County Tea Party.
Is this the sort of more efficient and response government we are looking for? I know that a lot of people would have liked to recall Sen. Lieberman here in Connecticut, but I worry that this moves us even further into a world of constant campaigning, paid for by the most wealthy and creating more gridlock in Washington.
To support the Project Vote has announced “the first mobile canvassing tool for Apple's iPad. This will increase voter registration and drastically reduce canvassing costs”. As a Nokia N900 user, I’d love to see this tool available on other platforms as well. The press release notes that “Currently only four states, Arizona, Colorado, Oregon, and Washington, support online voter registration”. Slowly, we are seeing that more and more government services are going online, and hopefully, move governments will use technology to improve their voter registration process, and make it easier to register online as well as easier to verify the legitimacy of the registrations.
Meanwhile, here in Connecticut, the battle over the future of the Citizen’s Election Program continues. The current Governor, who was elected before the program went into effect, wants to take over a quarter of the remaining funds in the program as part of the deficit mitigation efforts. Many express concern that cut of funding will force the program into insolvency. Perhaps everyone in the Governor’s office and the Legislature should take a 25% pay cut before we make that large a cut to the Citizen’s Election Program, since it is people that were elected prior to the program that have gotten us into this mess.
This again, returns to the latest Pew survey, where people noted that institutions are a strong resistance to change. Barry Wellman, of University of Toronto noted “Institutions know how to protect themselves.”
Will government be more efficient and responsive as a result of innovative forms of online cooperation? It would be great if that turns out to be the case, but the efforts of institutions to protect themselves significantly cast doubt on this.
Tapping the Real Power of Google Fiber
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Tue, 03/23/2010 - 08:44The webpage, Google Fiber for Communities starts off by saying, “Google is planning to launch an experiment that we hope will make Internet access better and faster for everyone.” Almost everyone seems to be focusing on faster and fiber and not on better and communities, and I think they are making a big mistake.
Yes, having fast fiber to the home is a great goal, and while there isn’t a lot of fast fiber to the home in the United States, the idea isn’t really all that new or ground breaking. In 2008, PCWorld ran a story about KDDI offering home gigabit broadband for around $50/month. The United States has significantly lagged in broadband.
Some of this is because there is no very little real competition or innovation in the United States telecommunications industry. Instead, the large telecommunications firms are pretty happy keeping things the way they are, and the barriers to entry are so high that it takes either a really large company or a really innovative idea to break through.
Google is a really large company that, while gigabit broadband is not innovative, their approach for marketing it is. They have announced their intention to launch a product and have asked people to compete to become their customers, and the competition has been fierce.
Potential customers have used social media and earned media to advertise for Google. They have lobbied local governments to encourage Google to offer the product in their locale. I live on the outskirts of New Haven, CT, where community activists are working together with the city government on the New Haven Google Fiber Project. Activists are involved to help spread the word. Small businesses, especially those savvy at marketing online have joined forces to help the project, and the Mayor’s office has taken the lead. There is great energy and community around this project and if New Haven becomes a test bed for Google Fiber, it will do great things for the city.
Looking around the country, there are plenty of other similar efforts. Many cities have Fiber Fan pages on Facebook. Grand Rapids, MI has over thirty four thousand fans. Hunstsville, AL has over ten thousand fans. Fresno, CA has over eight thousand fans. Sarasota, FL has nearly seven thousand fans. Columbia, MO has nearly six thousand fans. Anderson, IN has a very impressive effort going on in their community with over forty-four hundred fans. Memphis has forty three hundred fans, edging out the forty-two hundred fans in Madison, WI. Durham, NC has over twenty six hundred members. Austin, TX has about eight hundred, as does Burlington, VT. At last check, there were over 150 fan pages for Google Fiber on Facebook.
Some community is going to be very happy. Others will be disappointed. I’ve worked on many campaigns that I believed would make our communities and our country greater. Too often, my candidate has lost and the energy and community around the campaign dissipated. While I hope that New Haven gets Google Fiber early on, and Google rapidly expands its fiber offering to many other communities, my greater hope is that the communities remain engaged and active, working together to provide better services and better work environments for the twenty first century.
The first round of applications is due on March 26th. I hope everyone gets good applications in and at the same time find ways of keeping their communities engaged and active.
Leading by Example, First Selectwoman of Durham, CT, Laura Foley Francis
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Mon, 03/22/2010 - 11:36Some of my most fervent Democratic friends may be disappointed in me for doing this, but I want to highlight the work of the Republican First Selectwoman of Durham, CT, Laura Foley Francis as an example of someone who is doing a great job of leading by example.
I first met First Selectwoman Francis at a ‘CT Tweetcrawl’. These gatherings are opportunities for people to gather and talk many things, including how they can use social media, like Twitter, Facebook and other sites, to promote things they value.
I’ve not been able to find Ms. Francis on Twitter, but we are friends on Facebook, and she has set up the Residents of the Town of Durham, CT page on Facebook. On it you will find messages like: “Welcome Home from Iraq, Captain, US Army, Melissa Golschneider, Durham, CT. We are proud of you” and “If you are unemployed or under-employed , please consider this workshop in Durham”. Sometimes, there are links to the town website, such as this one that encouraged people to attend Frog Friday.
Her personal Facebook page looks a lot like that of any other regular person. She plays Farmville and asks friends for recommendations for people to do business with. While I am not a big fan of Farmville, especially since Durham is much better farmland than anything you’ll find on Facebook, I believe that Ms. Francis’ approach to Facebook is one that people should emulate. It shows a real person concerned and connected with her community.
One of her recent posts especially caught my attention. “Thinking about hanging some clothes on the line today..” Several people commented on this. I quipped about the energy efficiency of my solar powered external clothes drier. Another person commented about good old fresh Durham air, part of the reason he loves living in Durham. One person noted that the Clean Energy Task Force gives her their official stamp of approval.
Yet one person asked, “Don't they pay you enough as first selectman to buy a dryer?” I don’t know how well Durham pays its First Selectwoman, but I suspect they are getting more than their money’s worth.
I’m sure that Ms. Francis could afford to use a clothes drier, but she has made an important choice. She has chosen to be frugal in her use of energy in a way that is enjoyable. We need more leaders willing to exhibit personal frugality in ways that improve everyone’s quality of life, not only in local government, but also at the state and national level.
Ms. Francis is to be commended for leading by example, and I wish her many more great days hanging laundry outside.
