Post on 29-Nov-2014
description
UKOLN is supported by:
Metrics and Social Web Services: Quantitative Evidence for their Use & Impact
Surveying Our Landscape From Top To Bottom
Brian Kelly
UKOLN
University of Bath
Bath, UK
http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/web-focus/events/workshops/eim-2011-07/http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/web-focus/events/workshops/eim-2011-07/
This work is licensed under a Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.0 licence (but note caveat)
Acceptable Use PolicyRecording this talk, taking photos, discussing the talk using Twitter, blogs, etc. is permitted but please try to minimise distractions to others.
Acceptable Use PolicyRecording this talk, taking photos, discussing the talk using Twitter, blogs, etc. is permitted but please try to minimise distractions to others.
Twitter:#ukolneim
Blog: Twitter:http://ukwebfocus.wordpress.com/ @briankelly
@ukwebfocus
22
You are free to:
copy, share, adapt or re-mix;
photograph, film or broadcast;
blog, live-blog or post video of
this presentation provided that:You attribute the work to its author and respect the rights and licences associated with its components.
Idea from Cameron Neylon
Slide Concept by Cameron Neylon, who has waived all copyright and related or neighbouring rights. This slide only CCZero.Social Media Icons adapted with permission from originals by Christopher Ross. Original images are available under GPL at:http://www.thisismyurl.com/free-downloads/15-free-speech-bubble-icons-for-popular-websites
Off the record questions and comments should be flagged
Evidence & comments
Services being considered: Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, iTunes, Technorati, Wikio & Slideshare
3
Twitter: Personal Trends
4
I thought I used Twitter regularly ever since signing up in March 2007.
Evidence from Tweetstats:• Significant use began in
Jan 2008 (100+ tweets)• No use in Mar-Jun 2008
Reality:• Significant use began in Apr 2008 at MW 2008 conf• Needed community in order to gain benefits
Implications:• Our memories may be incorrect• Data may be wrong (due to Twitter downtime??)
Institutional Use of Twitter
Questions:• What can commercial social media
analytics services tell us about institutional Use of Twitter?
• What can we learn from the approaches the services take?
• What are their strengths and weaknesses?
• Can we / should we develop alternatives?
5
Social Media Analytic Summaries
Social media analytic summaries for Russell Group Universities
6
Outliers may be interesting
Peerindex Comparisons (1)
7
Peerindex’s ‘topic fingerprint’ for Oxford / Cambridge:• Similar profiles• Oxford covers
news, politics & history
• Cambridge covers technologies
Peerindex and Klout group comparisons for Russell Group Unis available(data used in this talk is available freely for reuse under CC0 licence)
Peerindex Comparisons (2)
8
Peerindex’s ‘topic fingerprint’ for:
@psychemedia (blue blob) & @mweller (grey outline)
Do such comparisons tell us anything useful?
Example used of four established bloggers / Twitterers
Peerindex For ParticipantsPeerindex table of rankings for attendees. Is this:
• A self-fulfilling echo-chamber / a clique?
• Easily gamed (e.g. by signing up to service)?
9
Scenario 1: Research funding determined by flawed metrics but Unis still headhunt researchers with valuable RAE scores
Scenario 2: Social Media metrics flawed but Unis headhunt marketing / outreach people with valuable scores
Scenario 3: “IMAGINE a world in which we are assigned a number that indicates how influential we are. This number would help determine whether you receive a job …It’s not science fiction. It’s happening to millions”
Slideshare: Personal UseSteve Wheeler tweet on Aug 2010:
Ironically there were 15 people in my audience for this Web 3.0 slideshow but >12,000 people have since viewed it http://bit.ly/cPfjjP
In Dec 2010 blog post reported:•~16K views &1.5K embedded views
Blog post suggested:•Value of embeddable resources (Slideshare sets OERs free)•Ways of comparing value of experiences of 15 local audience & 22.8K (now) remote viewers
10
Slideshare at Events (1 of 2)IWMW events used Slideshare since 2006.
Statistics show:• Overall nos of
views (<1,000 live audience)
and suggest:• Potential for
amplification of parallel sessions
• Potential value of aggregation of slides
11
But does decline since 2008 peak indicate:• Slideshare is past it (use Slideboom,
…)?• Viewing slides is passe• Benefits of longstanding availability?
Slideshare at Events (2 of 2)
Statistics of most popular slides suggest:• Popularity of
non-HE speakers’ slides
• Popularity of slides not in corporate house style
12
This has some positive correlation with experiences of local audienceCould this inform selection of speakers in future?
Slideshare: LessonsLessons:
• Benefits of providing embeddable resources to enhance access
• Informing policy: encouraging workshop facilitators to upload their slides
• Challenging orthodoxy: value of house style• Apparent decline in numbers may reflect longevity
of availability of resources
Implications:• What can the evidence and reflections tell us
about teaching and learning repositories?
13
Slideshare Premium account provides richer statistics (trend analysis?) indicates value of business intelligence for $19/month.
Metrics For Personal BlogsTechnorati gives authority & ranking for 1.2 M blogs
Authority measures blog's standing & influence on scale of 0-1000 (high good).Ranking given for Technorati Authority of all sites (low good)
Rank of 3,045 means top 0.2% of all blogs.
Technology rank of 376 (of 30,133) means top 1.2%
14
Metadata for use in comparison with similar blogs
Top 3% of all blogsTop 13% of technology blogsOr top 0.2% of all blogsTop 1.3% of technology blogs
Or blogs.ouseful.info
Metrics For Personal BlogsFor blogs with a “JISC” keyword:
MASHe:
Top 0.8%
Top 2% technology
JISC AM Team:
Top 6%
May be value in:• Comparisons
(learning)• Aggregation
(value of HE)
But …
15Note usefulness of keywords
Why the drop?
WikioWikio also provides metrics for (registered) blogs
List of top technology blogs shown
16
MASHe also ranked highly but not listed as Technology blog (so 4 of top 100 blogs here!)
Together with display of trends for ranking, nos. of posts, links and backlinks,
OUseful had peak at #18 in Nov 2008
What happened from Jun-Sep 2010?
DiscussionCriticisms: Flawed Approaches
• Blogs have variety of purposes so inappropriate to reduce to 1 dimension
Response:• A degree can be seen as I/2.1/2.2 or 3• Some blogs have similar purpose and can be
compared
Criticisms: Technical• Results can be volatile & may be skewed by blog
technologies; migration of blogs; …
Response:• Could improve• Not significantly different from University rating?
17
Facebook Trends in UK HEDevelopment since 2007:•Blog post in 2007 reported 7 UK Unis on Facebook: Aston, Cardiff, Kent and the University of Central Lancashire (UCLan)•Jun 2008 survey reported on 8 most popular UK HE pages: OU top with 7,539 fans•Aug 2010 survey showed growth over 2 years (OU 380%; Cardiff 13,000% and others from 400-700%)
18
Result of decision to be pro-active in Fb marketing? If so, did it provide an ROI?
FacebookSurvey of Russell Group Unis Fb use:•Branded Fb URL: 7
•Fb page: 7
•Fb group: 1
•No easily found Fb presence: 5
•Neglected or unofficial Fb presence: 1
•Range of ‘likes’: 2,047 – 137,395
Recent report on ‘ROI of Fb advertising’ suggested “1 Facebook fan = 20 additional visits to your website”
19How would we know if Cardiff‘s 20,035 Likes have provided an ROI?
YouTube EduSurvey of YouTube Edu accounts:• 1M+ views at
Coventry Uni • Lack of comments
20Example of stats available
iTunes Edu
21
Numeric data not readily obtained from iTunes Edu
Is this:• To be welcomed as an
escape from bean-counting?
• Of concern since gathering qualitative evidence can be costly?
Blog post analysed how services marketed: “lots of content”; “free content”; “available on iPods”; …
ConclusionsTo conclude quantitative evidence:
• Can inform policy decisions• Can influence individual decision-making
The data:• Needs to be gathered!• May be flawed and should be questioned
The data analysis:• May inform (and surprise)• May be flawed
But:• Links with value & financial ROI not yet
established
22
23
Questions
Any questions or comments?