How are they connected (Twistori and Web Analytics Wednesday)?  They're not, in any obvious way - but I focused on both today - and wrote a post about how Twistori could be used as magnifying glass to examine sentiment at The Analytics Guru -

Twistori - good as it is, but better if it could be refined

Also - I'm going to hang out, right now, with other Web Analytics Professionals, including Eric Peterson, who's hosting the Web Analytics Wednesday here in Manhattan today over at Avenue A | Razorfish Office 19th floor in New York

Maybe I'll write about it later tonight - so busy lately - and I'll be in San Francisco on Sunday at Emetrics Summit (at the Palace Hotel) in case anyone is attending - please say hello. 

Would you pay 9 billion dollars for Facebook?  Yes/No?   Actually, that's what Henry Blodget thinks Facebook is really worth - I read about the 9 billion Facebook valuation a TechCrunch post titled Blodget Says Facebook Is Only Worth $9 Billion, Hypothetically Speaking

 "….Today, Henry Blodget & Co. at Silicon Alley Insider try to peg valuations on 25 private Web companies. Facebook is at the top of the list, but it is valued at $9 billion instead of the $15 billion that Microsoft’s investment put on the company. Why? Because everyone knows that the $15 billion is too high, so SAI decided to apply a 25X multiple on Facebook’s 2008 revenue forecast of $350 million. Does that make its valuation correct? Probably not. But in the absence of any true market pricing, anyone can go ahead and make a guess."

I think that sounds right - 15 billion for Facebook sounds too high - not that Facebook isn't worth 15 billion - but who'd pay that much for it? 

I meant to post this earlier - just incase some of my readers are in San Francisco next weekend (and attending Emetrics Summit is not actually required for all of what's listed below) - here's some information you might want to keep track of.

I'll be on the 4:30PM - 6:00PM Panel, by the way:

WAA Panel: Web Analytics vs. Audience Measurement & the WAA's Raucous Caucus Reception

 

Dear WAA Members:

Looking for a rowdy good time of extraordinary measure?

Join fellow members and web analytics professionals from around the world for the Panel Discussion, followed by WAA’s fun-filled Raucous Caucus and Networking Reception. Learn more about:

• Panel Discussion: The Role of the Web Marketer and Analyst versus How We Use Online Advertising Tools and Audience Measurement Data
• WAA’s vision for the future and the exciting opportunities coming in the year ahead
• How you can benefit more from your WAA membership
• Opportunities to get involved and make an impact in this dynamic industry

When: Sunday, May 4
(Immediately following the WAA Base Camp and the evening prior to the eMetrics Marketing Optimization Summit)

Where: Palace Hotel, Gold Ballroom
2 New Montgomery Street
San Francisco, CA

Time 4:30 - 6:00 pm, WAA Panel: Web Analytics vs. Audience Measurement
6:00 - 7:30 pm, Raucous Caucus Reception

Actually, I have a really hard time getting up early enough, or forking over 50 bucks to get in, but I will for Bill Sobel, this time, because I want to see the newest 3D Television experience -

"…. Quantel was displaying Pablo, the world’s first 3D HD post-production system. According to Horton, every major sports broadcaster in the world stopped by the Quantel presentation, and many were so impressed that plans are already in motion to have pilot transmissions ready by month’s end.

“This time last year, the whole stereoscopic thing was really kicking off with Hollywood and that’s picked up momentum,” Horton explains. “Subsequently, the broadcasters have come on board with it as well. This is really a generational change. This is as big a change as black and white to color.”
 

"Enhancing the consumer video experience"

featuring a demonstration of 3d stereoscopic hd televison 

and discussion  presented by our friends at quantel corporation

 I'm always curious about how good it'll be - there's only one way to find out - I just better make sure I can get up at 5:30AM - so I get down to W43rd Street by 7:30AM on May 1st - not an easy feat as I'll be out the evening before partying at Web Analytics Wednesday (and passing up a SEMPO meeting) with Eric Peterson:

Events in New York

If you live in New York please join your fellow web analysts at an upcoming local event.

Wednesday, April 30, 2008

Avenue A | Razorfish Office 19th floor in New York

The next Web Analytics Wednesday will have Eric Peterson speaking and presenting at the Avenue A | Razorfish offices in Midtown Manhattan.

MANDATORY - Please register at least 24 hours before the event. April 29th, 2008 at 6:00PM EST so that I can get your name on the list with building security.

Please join the Web Analytics Wednesday NYC linked in group http://www.linkedin.com/e/gis/72613/16F0D258FBDE

Host:

Joel Collymore and Derek Montiverdi (Email)

Date:

Wednesday, April 30, 2008 at 6:00 PM

Venue:

Avenue A | Razorfish Office 19th floor

Address:

1440 Broadway, New York NY (Venue | Map | Group)

Sponsor:

Event sponsored by Avenue A | Razorfish

Share:

Invite friends to join you at this event
Link to this event

 

I wrote two posts over the last day or so that describe interesting problems with search engines - in the first place I noted that People Search Less for what they’re not interested in.  That's right - no matter how optimized you make your site and how well  you do in search results - if people aren't that interested, and they aren't as interested in buying houses right now, then all the optimization in the world is not going to sell you more houses, or house plans, etc.

In fact, Hitwise was able to show something I was privately telling my clients for quite some time - getting the search results is just the first 25% of making a sale, or even less  - it's what happens after a visitor arrives on the site that really matter - but in the case of things like "house plans" or "houses" there really is lower demand and there fore, traffic will go down on searches related to "houses" because it must go down - people don't want to eat a lot more food after they've just eaten - or, you can't sell house plans to people who are losing their homes, when there's over a years worth of new homes that can't be sold right now and are depreciationg in value.

Look, if you don't belive me, look at this chart (below)

Not sure if less searches led to lower prices on houses or the other way around - but you can see the two are co-related.  I'll leave it at that.

Also, I wrote another post about Keyword Search sucks according to TechCrunch - and it does.  So, people aren't looking because they can't afford to - and then, when they do look, the termonology doesn't match up well with teh content up there, on the web.

This was very much on my mind (esp the first post I mentioned); but I took a break from it and dropped off a painting of mine to a gallery in Brooklyn - here's a movie I made of my analytic impressions of the day:

I went to the Social Media Mafia "sit down" #NYC at Trattoria Dopo Teatro which was hosted by Chris Hambly.  I had not planned to stay more than 2 hours but ended up staying at the dinner almost twice as long and making many new friends - some who I also saw tonight at a PodcampNYC party in Dumbo.

I also made 4 videos of the dinner last night - which are all being streamed from WaaSocial.webanalyticsassociation.org.   There's a lot of good stuff in the parts of the video that make them worth listening to, I feel - so I've embedded all four parts of yesterday's dinner below:

Here's Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

People have been talking, all around me on how to mobilize, how to deliver messaging locally … and it occurred to me that being "local" is easy to do now, if you embrace Social Media.

Certainly, this would apply to Web Analytics as well, but I'm thinking about the power of Social Media that came out of Meetup.com in the last Presidential Election (2004) and what's happened since.

Right now, I find it very easy to have spontaneous gatherings, in this case, a "Tweetup", in a way that probably was not possible until Twitter came on the scene.

And here's a "Tweetup" I went to at the West 79th Street Boathouse Restaurant last Tuesday - I had known about it, perhaps 8 hours in advance and except for one or two people, had no idea who I'd meet.

It's important to keep this in mind when we talk about perhaps having a European Web Analytics Association - or even, delivering Brand Messaging local - or dealing with Local anything …. the tools are already in place, but the thinking about Social Media, hasn't changed all that much - you can use Social Media to create positive outcomes to the extent that you embrace it.

And now, here's a little online clip of my "tweetup" on 79th Street with Whitney Hess and for other Twitter people:

 Fun Tweetup tonight with @whitneyhess @webmetricsguru @hikirsch @efortiz @coreyh and his fiancée Emily.

Been so busy today that I had not the chance to post - but I'd like to show off some of the work my committee, Social Media, does at the Web Analytics Association, especially with our Social Network, WAASocial - Here's a meeting, over lunch, that we had yesterday in Soho, in the East Village, Manhattan:

Feel free to join WAASocial, by the way, if your interested in Metrics in some way:

Here's Part 1

And Here's part 2

I guess this puts a dent into Microsoft's acquisition of Yahoo .. just a mistake though -but fun, when, according to TechCrunch - Yahoo “Refunds” Disappointed Search Advertiser $9 Billion. Now, That’s Customer Service!

Ha, ha, too bad its not true….

Despite the decent first quarter earnings it announced yesterday and all the progress it claims to be making in closing the search marketing gap with Google, Yahoo still has plenty of advertisers unsatisfied with the return Yahoo gives them on their search marketing dollars. One of them (name redacted) sent us the correspondence below from Yahoo Search Marketing, which he received after closing an account and requesting a refund of the remaining $375 balance."

I guess someone at Yahoo! must have been operating on automatic since they wrote the customer with this reply to an inquiry:

From: Yahoo! Search Marketing
Date: Thu, Apr 17, 2008 at 9:36 AM
Subject: Re: Case #1604XXXXX
To: XXXXX@gmail.com

Apr 17 2008 09:36 PT

Hello AXXXX,

As you requested, we have completed refunding $8,962,385,800 to your VISA ending in 7134. Depending on your bank, you should find this refund reflected on your next credit card statement.

This transaction is also reflected in the Billing Transaction Detail Report, available in the Reports section of your account. You can find this report by doing the following:

1. Log into your account at the following link: https://login12.marketingsolutions.yahoo.com/adui/signinXXXXXX.
2. Click the Reports tab.
3. In the Financial Reports area, click Billing Transaction Detail.

Sincerely,

XXXXX Smith
Customer Solutions
Yahoo! Search Marketing

 

 Darn, why can't that card be mine?

I noticed a review in Social Media Today on Searching blog trends which highlights a new Blog Trend Analysis tool - Trendpedia. 

"….Now from Belgian brand monitoring firm Attentio comes Trendpedia - a tool to search blog trends with a bit of zeitgeist thrown in as well.  (Now available out of beta.)"

I ran a comparison in Trendpedia of Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama and John McCain (see below) 

I do like how each entity has it's own tab - I can select any point in time in the chart and get a rundown of what I'm comparing and giving me the pie chart on the right.

What I'd also like is an attempt at Sentiment Analysis (positive vs. negative).

The Blogpulse chart isn't quite the same, you get percentages on the Y axis, instead of the actual number of posts considered.  The overall results don't appear to be all that different.

Personally, I'd like more than an improved interface, such as the sentiment analysis from Trendpedia - it doesn't have to be super high tech, what people are paying a lot of money for - but something more than what we can get now.

However, I will play with Trendpedia more, as I do like the interface.