This document discusses analyzing online crowds and communities. It begins by introducing the author and their company which focuses on online market intelligence. It then discusses different types and sizes of online and offline gatherings, as well as Dunbar's number which suggests a cognitive limit of 150 for stable social relationships. Following sections provide examples of how online crowds have influenced real world events and discuss how corporate communications have evolved. It outlines methods for analyzing online crowds, including metrics, topics, and sentiment analysis. Case studies demonstrate how various companies have benefited from monitoring crowds.

2. About Me
Twitter: @NickHaC
CEO & Founder
Au Market Leader
100+ Clients
Established 2007
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3. About Crowds…
Group Size Offline Online
 People are people Intimate Living Room / Email, Instant
Coffee Shop Messaging
 Online vs. Offline
Social Pub Email,
 Types of Gatherings Personal
Blogs
 Intimate (<3)
Community Events, Bars Blogs,
 Social (3-10) Forums,
Mailing Lists,
 Community (10-150) Social Media
 Crowds (150+) Crowds Sports Everywhere
Events, online
Protests,
Nightclubs
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4. Crowds and Dunbar’s Number
 Human communities behave differently
depending on their size
 “150... The cognitive limit to the number
of people with whom one can maintain
stable social relationships” – Robin
Dunbar, 1992
 “Dunbar's Number isn't just a number, it's
the law” – Seth Godin, 2009
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5. Online Crowds Changing the Real World
 RickRolling
 Anonymous
 Lolcats
 iSnack 2.0
 Dominos
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6. Corporate Communications 1.0
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7. Corporate Communications 2.0
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8. Online Crowds and Trust
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9. How online crowds form
 Transient membership
 Looser forms of affiliation
 No cost to join, no barriers to entry
 No risk to members
 Timeless & asynchronous
 Compounding interest & impact
 Discoverable through many
channels
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10. Online vs The Real World
 Real world influencers are
influential online
 Celebrities
 Business Leaders
 Journalists
 Online Influencers may have
no real world influence but
may be more influential than
real world (eg Perez Hilton)
“Who care’s - its just a 16 year old kid” –
Major mobile phone company, 2010
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11. What do crowds huddle around?
 Personal Interests
 EG: Gaming, Fashion, Finance, Technology, Sports, Gambling, Travel
 Issues – Cross channel and dynamic
 EG: Political & News
 Events
 EG: Community, Corporate, Sports, Real World, Product Launches
 Locations
 EG: Suburbs, Citys, Regions, Countries
 Community
 EG: Forums, Mailing Lists, Groups, IRC
 Business
 Topics of Interest, Market Awareness and Learning
 Finance, Advertising/Marketing, Technology, HR, etc
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12. Why do companies care about Crowds?
 Do you care what people say about you?
 We spend millions on market research and media
analytics.
 Internet 2nd most Influential Media Source (After TV) and
growing (Pew Internet Research 2010)
 Value opportunity & risk associated with inaction
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13. How do we analyse crowds?
COMPARATIVE VOLUME
1.5
 Types of Monitoring
1.0
 Brands
0.5
 Products
 Companies 0.0
Client Comp A Comp B
 Events
 Issues
 Topics
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14. How do we analyse crowds?
Distribution of Influence Scores
30.0%
25.0%
 Metrics of Analysis 20.0%
15.0%
10.0%
 Volume of discussion 5.0%
0.0%
 Influence
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
Client Comp A Comp B
 Distribution
 Rankings
 Traffic
 Equiv. Media Value
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15. How do we analyse crowds?
 Media Types (Blogs VS
Forums)
 Domains (Top domain)
 Geography (Country,
State, City, Suburb)
 Topics (Service, Price,
Quality, Complaints,
Satisfaction)
 Debate & Virality –
Monologue vs Dialogue
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16. How do we analyse crowds?
 Domains (Top domain)
 Media Types (Blogs VS
Forums)
 Geography (Country,
State, City, Suburb)
 Topics (Service, Price,
Quality, Complaints,
Satisfaction)
 Debate & Virality –
Monologue vs Dialogue
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17. How do we analyse crowds?
 Domains (Top domain)
 Media Types (Blogs VS
Forums)
 Geography (Country,
State, City, Suburb)
 Topics (Service, Price,
Quality, Complaints,
Satisfaction)
 Debate & Virality –
Monologue vs Dialogue
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18. How do we analyse crowds?
 Domains (Top domain)
 Media Types (Blogs VS
Forums)
 Geography (Country,
State, City, Suburb)
 Topics (Service, Price,
Quality, Complaints,
Satisfaction)
 Debate & Virality –
Monologue vs Dialogue
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19. What about Sentiment Analysis?
 Holy Grail?
 Humans can’t agree
 Language is quirky
 False Negatives
 False Positives
 Is a mood ring useful
anyway?
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20. Case Study: Microsoft
Type: Monitoring Government Blogs
Topics: Brands, Products & Competitors
Action: Engage in real world and win deals
Benefit: Revenue, Customers, Reduce
Competition
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21. Case Study: Ford
Type: Monitoring Car Forums
Topics: Products & Geography
Action: Predictive analysis & inventory planning
Benefit: Market Intelligence, Reduce cost of
inventory, reduces loss of sales
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22. Case Study: Dell
Type: Monitoring Social Media
Topics: Competitors
Action: Provide sales advice and attractive offers
to customers researching competitors
Benefit: Direct and measurable increase in Sales.
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23. Case Study: Dell Outlet
Type: Social Media Broadcasting
Topics: Products
Action: Post offer’s from Outlet store to Twitter
Benefit: $3M Annually in Revenue from Twitter
Sales.
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24. Case Study: Unilever
Type: Monitoring All Online
Topics: Products
Action: Product Development Research
Benefit: Deliver products that better meet
customers needs, reduce costs and increase
accuracy of Market Research
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25. Case Study: Big 4 Accounting Firm
Type: Monitoring Forums & Social Media
Topics: Brands, Competitors Brands
Action: Track Graduate Recruitment Discussions
Benefit: Improve market awareness of benefits
of Grad Programmes and reduce leakage of top
talent to other grad programs
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26. Next Steps
 What kind of crowd analysis can
benefit your company?
Build an internal business case or
execute a pilot project.
 Define success metrics and
report against them.
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27. Overcoming Internal Objections
 Social Media doesnt effect our industry/business!
 Every company cares about their image
 Internet Research: Journalists, Market Analysts, Customers etc
 HR, Corporate Comms, Marketing, Media,
 It’s too expensive!
Compared to what?
What would it cost if we missed a Crisis or Competitor Action?
 We don’t have resources?
 Time is spent company online
Agencies here to help...
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28. Thank you for your time
Download this Deck
http://www.BuzzNumbers.com.au/NewMediaSummit/
Speak with BuzzNumbers Online Intelligence Team
Phone: 1300 886 192
Email: info@buzznumbers.com.au
Twitter: @BuzzNumbers
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