Twitter and IBM to enable businesses to effectively mine social data

/0 Comments/in , , , /by

Twitter & IBM to enable businesses to effectively mine social dataStop for a minute and think about the amount of data that passes through Twitter every single hour. Then multiply that by the amount of hours in a day, a week, a month etc and try to comprehend how much social data Twitter actually possesses. To aid your thought process or maybe just blow your mind, 500 million tweets are sent via the platform every day.

So it’s safe to say that Twitter holds tonnes of data. And now, in a recent announcement made on the company’s blog, it seems that businesses may get the opportunity to mine that data going forward.

Every day, people share a piece of their lives via Twitter. Whether it’s their lunch plans, a cute picture of a pet or a special occasion, Twitter inevitably knows about it. Moreover, every single one of those tweets holds value.

But accessing Twitter data itself isn’t something revolutionary. After all listening tools have been around for a while and give businesses direct access to the metrics. However, until now there has been a challenge when it comes to actually deciphering the data and turning it into something tangible that businesses can leverage.

Twitter and IBM’s new partnership will effectively allow businesses to utilise Twitter data as part of their decision-making processes through a variety of IBM tools, solutions and services. Heard of IBM’s cognitive supercomputer Watson?  Well it could potentially have access to Twitter data in the future and allow companies to answer such questions as, “What do our customers like best about our service?” or “Why are we growing so fast in Asia?”

With access to such insightful data, businesses will be able to unlock previously hidden realms and shape their customer experiences more intuitively. This will allow products and services to be targeted at specific customer needs and wants.

Tens of thousands of IBM Global Business Services consultants will be trained on how businesses can best apply Twitter data in their day-to-day operations.

This announcement is fantastic news for companies who are already using social media channels to their advantage and engaging with their customers on as many levels as possible. Just imagine the scope of engagement that will be possible in the future.

Social media marketing requires your business to listen. In fact, that’s probably the primary activity you should be doing across all your social channels. But how can you listen effectively if you’re relying on memory as much as anything else?

Utilising social data is more than just checking how many followers you’ve got. It’s about building a picture of your audience; understanding what makes them tick; and creating material that is relevant.

The collaborative force of Twitter and IBM represents a turning point in social data manipulation. One that will allow businesses to take value from every piece of micro content that’s available.

 

HTTPS Now a Google Ranking Signal

/0 Comments/in , , , /by

HTTPS Now a google ranking signalDoes your website use HTTPS encryption? If not, maybe it’s time you made the switch; especially as Google have recently announced that they’ve started using HTTPS as a ranking signal.

That’s right, it now seems that Google are striving to make the internet a safer place for us all and, while the change to their search algorithm currently affects less than 1% of global queries, it’s likely to become much larger in the future.

In Google’s own words: “we’d like to encourage all website owners to switch from HTTP to HTTPS to keep everyone safe on the web.”

And what better way to cajole webmasters into adopting secure, encrypted connections on their sites than this! But what is HTTPS and how can it benefit you and your website visitors?

The next time you visit your favourite website(s) take a quick look at your browser’s address bar and you’ll likely see either ‘HTTP’ or ‘HTTPS’ – the latter being the secure connections that Google are talking about. Furthermore, your browser will often show a padlock symbol to highlight that you are communicating over secure connection.

Traditionally, online banking and e-commerce websites used HTTPS to increase the security of the connection between them and their customer. However, it’s now much more common to see social media and news websites using secure connections.

Standard HTTP websites use port 80 for communication and are liable to man-in-the-middle and eavesdropping attacks, which allow attackers to get hold of sensitive information and website accounts.

A nice analogy that I came across on the internet likened website security to sending your credit card information via post. Unencrypted sites are the same as posting your details in a clear plastic envelope for all to see. Encrypted websites, however, see your data sent in secure envelopes that protect it in transit.

Now you might be wondering why all websites don’t use HTTPS as standard and the answer is simple – because it costs money. Today, however, SSL certificates can be picked up for just a few pounds a year, yet the benefits they afford are numerous.

Also, there were many people who believed that encryption added an unnecessary burden to a website and reduced its performance but advances in technology have eliminated this issue.

So, there really are no excuses not to implement secure, encrypted connections for your website. Especially as we hear more and more about data security breaches happening on a seemingly more regular basis nowadays. These types of cyber-attack are not only embarrassing but inevitably cost your business financially.

At the end of the day, visitors to your website want to feel safe while they are browsing your pages and/or logging into their personal/business accounts. Implementing HTTPS is a great way to promote trust between you and your customers/potential customers.

The final benefit is, of course the potential boost in search ranking that your site will get from using HTTPS. This might even be reason enough for you to make the change. Your competitors may already be using HTTPS on their websites, so don’t fall any further behind them in the search rankings.

 

 

 

Image courtesy of hyena reality / FreeDigitalPhotos.net