We are delighted to be able to launch our new product: Industry Dashboards. Industry Dashboards are the solution for clients needing a high-level industry snapshot of analysis that is relevant to their business activity and have been designed to be highly cost-effective in extracting analysis from the market place that can impact businesses across an array of sectors.
Analysis available ranges from market-share indications and trend lines to competitive information and key stakeholders and influencers within the particular topic area. Data is drawn from several million news and consumer comment sites and is updated on a daily basis to help users understand:
- Are we going to win or lose market share among online communities and news providers? What is the likely driver? - What is driving the debate in our industry? How closely are we associated with the core industry issues? - Are our competitors more successful in gaining comment among the influential online stakeholders than we are? If you are interested in signing up for our standard Industry Dashboards, you can do so here.
You can read more about the solutions here.
There is an excellent article in the latest issue of Scientific American (Nov, 2010 – “Fudge Factor” p. 8) about 'confirmation bias' - the tendency to look for and perceive evidence that confirms our preconceptions or hypotheses – resulting in evidence that is biased. The article is a great reminder that adhering to basic scientific research methods is the best defence against falling into the confirmation bias trap.
In an (unintentionally, I think) related article (“Status Update: I’m So Glamorous”, p. 15) there is an excellent article about a study that shows how narcissism and low self-esteem can be predicted by a person’s Facebook activity.
There is an interesting article in this week’s The Economist on how internet firms are becoming a valuable source of economic insights.
http://www.economist.com/node/17468318?story_id=17468318
The article mentions a number of cases where online data can be used as an indicator of market activity.
While the methods described are not precisely the approach used by Onalytica, the general idea is the same: Certain changes in online activity (or debate) are rooted in economic or market activities and can, when processed correctly, provide a valuable and real-time source of insight.
One element of the article is a bit different than our experience. We find that in many cases, changes in search activity is a laggard, not a leader, of real-life market events, for example car purchases.