May 2012
3 posts
On Correlations
Rand Fishkin posted an article on SEOMoz a couple of days ago on why the marketing world needs more correlation research. I don’t disagree with this. Correlation studies are a valuable first step in the scientific method, and I wouldn’t be typing this on my spanky new laptop without correlation studies, I can assure you. So, let’s dispose of this particular straw man directly and...
There's No Such Thing As Too Much Data
In the spirit of Datasnob, I’m going to get a little snotty about an article my friend Jason Konopinski alerted me to today, entitled Too Much Data Is Too Much Data. Now, I can certainly understand the sentiment here, and I’ve given a few keynotes this year with the title “Drowning in Data,” so I can’t get too uppity here.
But allow me to get uppity here. Reading a...
April 2012
2 posts
Social Sewage
I had a conversation with Nichole Kelly last week over lunch about sewage. We were both speaking at Explore Nashville, and kibitzing over just how much—or little—humans really want to connect with brands on social networks like Facebook. Nichole’s example was a little extreme: “I certainly don’t want to friend my local sewage treatment company!” I had to agree,...
Knowing "Who" Is Half The Battle
One of Datasnob’s readers passed a study along to me last week to get my take on its findings. The report is listed as a CEO, Social Media and Leadership Survey, and purports to be a study of “C-Suite engagement on social media channels and attitudes of customer and employees toward that brand.”
I can’t really comment on the findings of the study—and again, this...
March 2012
4 posts
What The Newest comScore Data Teaches Us About...
A new study from comScore was just released that examines just what an “impression” really means in online advertising. In the spirit of Datasnob as source for the discriminating data connoisseur, let me start by saying this is a fine study, and one that has implications beyond the banner ad.
The comScore study examined 18 online ad campaigns, with 3,000 placements and over 1.8...
What SXSW Conversations Teach Us About Outliers
Mashable recently ran an infographic from Meltwater (below) that characterized the social media chatter around the South by Southwest Interactive festival in Austin, TX this past week. They monitored 483,000 conversations directly related to or emanating from SxSW, and revealed the people and topics that were trending during the event.
The study is a good one, and does what it says on the tin:...
Pinterest Drives More Traffic Than Google+ ,... →
Most of the social media studies I see propagated on sites like Mashable are basically fine for what they are - the problem is what the people who report these studies purport them to be.
Case in point: this Pinterest traffic data that was all the rage back in February (ahh, I remember those halcyon days like it was only a month ago…) The headline was almost brazen: “Pinterest Drives...
