1. MONITORING SOCIAL MEDIA
SEMINARIO BIC LA FUCINA, MILANO. SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 2010

2. INTRODUCING…
Open‐First:
• A consultancy dedicated to the art,
science and application of social
technologies
• Operating globally, ofLices in London, San Francisco and Helsinki
• Practice areas in strategy, research, communications, technology
and process
• Website: http://open‐Lirst.com

3. WHAT IS SOCIAL MEDIA MONITORING?
• Social media networks • The impact of
contain info about the messages shared
personalities, inside these walls is
“Across the Internet customers are preferences and not isolated to online
points of view of social networking
talking, whether you like it or members. communities.
not. But this shi2 in the balance Social Media is
Social Media is
not a closed
of power doesn't have to be transparent
system
your worst nightmare.”
• Forums and opinion • What’s important?
“Take control, and social media can sites, video sharing, What ideas are
gaining ground? Who/
photo sharing,
h e l p y o u i m p r o v e y o u r microblogging. What is having the
biggest impact on
products, marke8ng, sales and your client’s brand?
service."
Social Media is Social Media is
more than blogs measurable

4. THE PROBLEM WITH SOCIAL MEDIA RESEARCH…
Data and analy8cs are frequently subpar:
• Data aggregation often treated as an end in itself
• Oversold automation / turnkey solutions for
monitoring lead to substandard or incomplete data
“Typical approach” to social media analy8cs is:
• Tactical, not strategic… lacks appropriate context
• Conceived and executed at junior level… ignored
at executive level

5. OUR APPROACH TO SOCIAL MEDIA RESEARCH
• Demonstrating the strategic value created by
social media monitoring and analytics
• Carrying the Llag for a mature approach to
social media research, that can talk credibly to
execu8ves
• Showcasing the importance of research exper8se during
program design, especially in determining appropriate mix of
qualitative and quantitative research methods
• Demonstrating a methodology for evaluating, selecting and
effectively using SM monitoring and analytics tools

6. TOOL SELECTION
Choice criteria:
• Fully supports project objectives
We use:
• Works transparently
• Offers robust, differentiated analysis
tools
• Creates unique value over free
Common problems:
• InsufLicient archive
• Unreliable search results
• Lightweight, or minimal
(and our own manpower)
differentiation in analytical tools
• Little granularity in data

7. SOCIAL MEDIA MONITORING TOOLS
Small to mid‐sized businesses and brands: eCairn
 Specializes in the blogosphere. Maps out blog communities.
 Users manually create a list of blogs they wish to track.
 A proprietary algorithm ranks blogs by “inLluence,” largely by
measuring how frequently the blogs cross reference other inLluential
blogs.
 Topical targeting: To help you research who has been talking about
you, your competitors or your favorite topics within the scope of your
projects communities.
 Community mapping: To visualize how the various bloggers in your
community network with each other, and group them according to your
preferences.
• Demo: http://ecairn.com/media/Demo_Conversation.swf

8. SOCIAL MEDIA MONITORING TOOLS
Medium to large sized brands and businesses: Scout Labs
 Automated sentiment analysis: natural language processing
techniques to assess the sentiment and tone of your searches in each
post.
 Conversation digest: summary of the most buzz‐worthy stories.
 Separates results out by medium, giving you separate tabs for blogs,
news, forums, photos, videos and Twitter.
 A proprietary algorithm ranks posts by ”importance,” by measuring
relevance of posts, trafLic and links of sources, and post “energy”.
 Advanced collaboration tools: tags, alerts, bookmarks, notes, tasks.
 Tour: http://www.scoutlabs.com/tour/

9. CASE STUDY 1: THE HTC G1, AKA THE “GOOGLEPHONE”
HTC is…
• The manufacturer which makes…
The “G1”
• The first smartphone to operate on…
Google’s “Android” mobile opera8ng system
• An early contender – with Symbian – in the “open source mobile” space.
EssenBally an open code base for developers of mobile apps, supported by
an alliance of smartphone manufacturers, network carriers and developers
called…
The Open Handset Alliance (OHA)
• Which has around 50 members as of today, and expects to have launched
18 Android devices by end 2009

10. PROJECT BRIEF AND PROGRAM DESIGN
Project concept A strategic analysis of the performance at launch of the
T‐Mobile / HTC G1 handset. Viewed from the
perspecBve of all major stakeholders
Content scope Social media content – blogs, microblogs, discussion
forums – relevant in a broad, compeBBve context to
the handset launch
Geographic Scope Global, in the English language
Time span Historical analysis encompassing a three month period
around launch (Autumn 2008)
Resources 6 weeks of full‐Bme resources in program design,
research and reporBng. SoWware license costs as
required (in consideraBon of cost‐benefit analysis)

11. WHAT WE FOUND…
Summary:
• Viewed in isolaBon, the G1
built impressive buzz around its
launch.
• Looked at in a broader
compeBBve context, results are
very disappoin8ng –
parBcularly for a handset held
iPhone dominates, even during G1 launch up as an “iPhone killer”
• iPhone commanded more than 12 Bmes the
raw volume of new blog comment during the 3
month study period

12. WHAT WE FOUND…
Summary:
• More evidence that launch
buzz was a profound
disappointment – peak
discussion was substanBally
overhauled by a trade press
story!
• A significant downwards dip in
G1 launch = “tech story of the year”? discussion towards the end of
the launch period is held up by
• A longer term view of blog buzz shows that
rumors about the G2
the launch was anything but: discussion
actually peaked in relaBon to a rouBne OHA
news story, several weeks aWer launch

13. WHAT WE FOUND…
Summary:
• The G1 is a complex product to
communicate – with much of
the anBcipatory buzz built
around the Android operaBng
system, not the handset on
which it operates
• The posiBve appeal of and
residual goodwill towards the
Thumbs up to Android; Thumbs down to G1
Android OS is not successfully
• Commentators found a lot to like, but also a lot
leveraged in G1 communicaBon
to dislike about the G1 handset features
• But there was nothing but praise for the
Android OS

14. WHAT WE FOUND…
Summary:
• Measuring raw buzz makes the
compeBBve posiBon of the G1
look weak, but weighing this for
reach or influence makes it look
sBll worse
• ParBcipants in discussions tend
to be either Android OS fans, or
G1 handset haters. The
G1 has weak friends and powerful enemies
“complete package” needs to be
• By a simple count, the G1 has a community of
beber communicated
potenBal advocates that rivals iPhone
• But this misses an important nuance: iPhone
fans are more strongly connected

15. WHAT WE FOUND…
Summary:
• It’s important to engage with
criBcism as well as encourage
advocacy – this does not appear
to have been done in the case of
G1
• As a result, unmoderated
criBcal voices dominate the
busy hub of the smartphone
Mature smartphone network of influence
community of interest – a key
• The smartphone community of interest comprises a
driver of customer intenBon
diffuse halo of unconnected sources, and an
extensively networked hub of influenBal sites.
• Not enough posiBve discussion about G1 takes place
in the “hub” of the smartphone community

16. RECOMMENDATIONS
Coordinate comms Online sources are confused by the relaBonship between the
with OHA Partners Android OS and the G1 handset. This confusion is harmful to all
OHA members. This could be addressed through a harmonized
approach to communicaBon at OHA level
Align aims of Developer communicaBons have been very successful, but
market and market communicaBons have not. This risks puhng the cart
before the horse – developer uptake is ulBmately driven by
developer comms market tracBon. Market communicaBons must become a priority
Engage exis8ng There is a thriving smartphone community of interest in social
smartphone media, that – in contrast to Apple ‐ remains largely unengaged
by OHA members. ParBcipaBon in this community needs to
community
feature in the communicaBons roadmap for Android phones
Discourage It is tempBng to encourage such comparisons as a way of driving
“iPhone killer” buzz. At present Bme, this is a comparison that the G1 can’t
qualitaBvely win. The G1 (and other Android phones) are a
narra8ve substanBally different offer to the iPhone – and they should be
communicated as such

17. CASE STUDY 2: AVG ANTIVIRUS
AVG is…
• A global security soWware maker protecBng more than 80 million consumers
and small businesses in 167 countries
• One of the top three most well known freeware anBvirus
• The center of conversaBons expressing doubt on whether free anBvirus can
be trusted
Key strategic and compe8tor analy8cs’ elements:
1 • Community
2 • Thought Leadership
3 • Product
4 • Price
5 • Content

18. PROJECT BRIEF AND PROGRAM DESIGN
Project concept A strategic analysis of AVG’s online compeBtor
landscape. Overall picture of social media presence
and compeBBve posiBoning
Content scope Social media content (blogs, discussion forums, Q&A
sites) relevant in a broad, compeBBve context to PC
security soWware market. Limited set of compeBtors
Geographic Scope Global, in the English language
Time span Historical analysis encompassing a six month period
(Summer/Autumn 2009)
Resources 4 weeks of full Bme resources in program design,
research and reporBng. Content acquired using a range
of free and commercial search tools

19. WHAT WE FOUND…
Blogging
Strong average Weak
Professional Networks average
Strong Weak
Personal Networks
Strong average Weak
Microblogging
Strong average Weak
Web (inlinks)
Strong average Weak

20. TCG RESEARCH
WHAT WE FOUND… CONTENT
COMMUNITY – FORUM
Community: Forums ‐ While relevant discussion on blogs is low in volume, there are
tremendous volumes of content relevant to buying decisions over security soWware
in Q&A / recommendaBon forums.
IT Professionals Small business
owners
Family
Cafemom.com
babycenter.com
everythingmom.com
Gamers
games.net
momlogic.com “Casual surfers” “PC enthusiasts” destructoid.com
parenthood.com
ausgamers.com
ocremix.org
gaiaonline.com
Travel
Travellerspoint.com
www.bootsnall.com File sharers
tripadvisor.com Q&A / Reviews filesharingz.com
matadornetwork.com answers.yahoo.com forum.emule‐project.net
globosapiens.net answerbag.com forum.utorrent.com
wiki.answers.com share4all.com
linkedin.com/answers dasoWs.com
fluther.com

21. TCG Research
Product – AVG Products
WHAT WE FOUND…
Product: AVG products
Comments highlighted areas of strength and weakness in the AVG product
Product
liabili8es:
‐ Customer support
‐ Updates
‐ Footprint
Product assets:
‐ User‐friendliness
‐ Price

22. TCG Research
Price – Free v Paid
WHAT WE FOUND…
Price: Free Vs. Paid
Common remarks about “free vs. paid” pricing for AV soWware break down as
shown below (frequency of comment is reflected in the size of the bubble)
“Always save
money – use the
“The free software is free version.” “The free program
better than works well, so why
nothing.” pay for it?”
“If you’re serious
“There’s not much
about protection,
difference between
get the paid
free or paid.”
version.”

23. TCG Research
Price ­ Free to Paid Upgrades
WHAT WE FOUND…
Price: Free to Paid Upgrades ‐ We audited online reviews for commentary about
user decisions to shiW from the free to the paid versions of anBvirus soWware.
Where explained, the reasoning for these choices can be classified as follows:
Extra ProtecBon: Control:
While they appreciate that for an For some users the paid version is more
average user the standard protection complicated to monitor but this gives
provided by the free version is probably more control (e.g. customisation of
sufPicient, it is nice to have the extra update times and free version
protection limitations on automatic scheduling)
Comprehensiveness:
After testing, they feel conPident in Support:
upgrading to the paid version, for full For users that feel they need a much
protection from a broader set of threats. greater degree of technical support
ID and phishing protection are also than provided by free alternatives
mentioned as something important
missing in the free versions.

24. RECOMMENDATIONS
Compe88ve The compeBBve environment for security soWware is currently
dominated by a set of companies whose emarkeBng efforts are
posi8oning in
invested in desBnaBon strategies. Challenge: develop an
footprint effecBve set of non‐desBnaBon tacBcs
Community AVG needs to expand its base of referrer communiBes; gain the
trust of non‐referrer communiBes and develop non‐core
communiBes. Community strategy needs to operate across
those 3 axis, with separate messaging
Product At present Bme online user commentary about the av market is
characterized by percepBon of: limited product differenBaBon, a
gap in the supply of comprehensive soluBons, an unfulfilled user
requirement for soWware that is easy to install, and distaste for
av soWware that hogs system resources
Price The av market is dominated by free product, with pay product
capped at costumer “reservaBon price”. ReservaBon price and
objecBon to premium product and to conversion from free to
paid are very common, but could be overcome via social media
and thought leadership. Price alternaBves could be developed in
an increasingly zero‐price market.

25. LESSONS:
Context is king:
• Creation of data is not an end in itself, and bad analysis
is worse than no analysis at all
Insights are driven by exper8se, not tools:
• Social media monitoring tools give good support for tactical
communications, but are less suitable for articulating and solving
strategic challenges
• Cost‐efLiciency in learning to use a tool is a false economy if the
feature set doesn’t support your goals
Systema8zed SM research can support knowledge func8ons:
• Competitor analysis
• Product feature / brand perception analysis

26. THE FUTURE OF SOCIAL MEDIA MONITORING
More sources, especially Facebook:
• Twitter is the primary target for analysis right
now because it's wide open and programmatically
accessible. It's only 10% the size of Facebook
More sophis8cated source analysis:
• Semantic analysis of areas of interest and personal background
information
Conversa8on discovery:
• One of the biggest challenges for organizations jumping into social
media is Linding and prioritizing all the conversations available

27. THANK YOU!
Veronica Rosso
Social Media Analyst @ Open‐First
veronica.rosso@theconversationgroup.com
+1 (408) 8237860