Modern Metrix

Tweets and biological rhythms

NYT discusses a paper by Scott Golder and Michael Macy from Cornell University on correlation between the emotional tone of people's messages on Twitter and known biological rhytms (aka cyrcadian rhytms). Using text mining software and impressive sample (several millions of tweets), researchers classified random tweets based on their content (usage of words "awesome", "great' and emoticons) as either "positive" or "negative", and then looked at the patterns throughout the day. They found that for majority of people, positive tweets tend to appear in the morning (between 6 am and 9 am), slowly decline towards afternoon, and then rise again after dinner. In the beginning of the workweek the overall mood tends to be lower, with the curve peaking on weekends. The patterns seem to be the same across different cultures.  

 

Image source and more info are here

Geographical differences in online behavior?

Do folks on the West coast behave differently online than folks in the North-East or South? See yourself (charts show indices, based on total online population):  

Source: Anonymous.

Microsoft products users are more click-happy?

Via Techcrunch: The analysis of clickstream by advertising network Chitika yielded interesting results: Bing users are 75% more likely to click on ads, compared to Google users. The similar patterns were found for browsers adn operating systems: the click-through rate of users of Internet Explorer is 80% higher than that of Google Chrome users, and 40% higher than for people using Firefox; the rates were twice higher on computers running MS Windos OS, compared to Linux or Mac.

Targeting Video Ads

TechCrunch inroduces Veoh, a Web video startup that now offers advertisers tools for targeting nine interest groups of Veoh users based on "their past viewing, searching, browsing, tagging, and commenting activities on the site." I really like the idea of defining groups based on their genre-preferences ("action videos, cars, pop culture, sci fi, anime, and family fare.")

Psychographic Segmentation of Chinese Bloggers

Just stumbled upon these notes from the 6th Annual Chinese Internet Research Conference: "A Psychographic Segmentation of Chinese Bloggers" study by Dr. Roland Soong (this is a link to conference blog). More notes from author here .

I am trying to get in touch with Dr. Soong, would love to see the original paper!

Cognitive Styles and Web Site Personalization

Researchers from MIT and British Telecom propose a new method for web sites personalization in which structure, content and other functional characteristics of web site are matched to consumers' cognitive characteristics (paper can be downloaded here). They developed an algorithm that employs Bayesian statistical analysis of users' clickstream to determine their cognitive styles (leader or follower, analytic/visual or holistic/verbal, impulsive or deliberative, reader or listener). Consumers are then assigned to one of eight cognitive-style segments, and presented with a version of web site that takes into account content/format preferences that are typical for their segment. For example, study results suggest that simple content like general information about company is more likely to appeal to "holistic" audiences, whereas "analytical" consumers are more attracted to interactive tools. Among other findings: "holistic" consumers are more likely to favor focused content, "impulsive" visitors prefer information presented in small portions, and "deliberative" users are more likely to post comments and feedback.

(via Behavioral Insider)

How to reach Specific Market Segments via Social Media (research by Simmons)

This article in Advertising Age discusses research on social media users conducted by Simmons. In this study, Simmons demonstrated how various market segments (including those based on socio-demographic, lifestyle, and psychographics) could be reached via social media. Authors profiled nine specific consumer types against use of social-networking sites, blogs, message boards, podcasts, and other social media outlets. profiled some of their consumer personality types (based on socio-demographic and psychographic characteristics) against the use of social media. For example, Brand-Loyal consumers are more likely to read environmental blogs and use professional-networking sites. Approval Seekers (which include those who "buys what others are buying and likes to follow styles and trends") are more likely to use " social-networking sites to meet like-minded people, express their views, get music and entertainment recommendations, and keep in touch with family and friends".

MySpace is launching HyperTargeting system

MySpace's response to Facebook's Beacon, ad targeting system dubbed HyperTargeting, will be launched in the U.S. and U.K. in the nearest future:

"MySpace's HyperTargeting system will look at a person's interests listed on their public profile and then classify the user into particular interest-specific categories, said Travis Katz, senior vice president for MySpace International. Advertisers will then be able to target categories of users that may be most receptive to their campaigns, he said.

<>In preliminary tests, Katz said the HyperTargeting system resulted in a 300 percent increase in the number of click-throughs on an ad, one way that the success of a Web advertisement is measured. "

People will be also given an option to opt out, and personal information on users will not be collected and stored.

Forrester's Online Tool for Technographic Profiling

Use this online interactive tool from Forrester for technographic profiling of geo-demographic groups of your interest (gender/age/country). Very neat!

Online Advertisements that Contain Your Name?

Interesting piece in New York Times on whether major Internet companies like Google, AOL, Microsoft and Yahoo are capable of displaying ads with your name on it.

"As the technology becomes more advanced along with the experience using these tools, there will be important policy issues to confront. Today, none of the four companies offer ads with user’s names in them; indeed, it would raise a red flag for them to do so. But, the four companies vary when asked if they “could” do this.

Microsoft says it could use only a person’s first name. AOL and Yahoo could use a full name but only on their sites, not the other sites on which they place ads. Google isn’t sure; it probably could, but it doesn’t know the names of most of its users."