Metrics and Social Web Services: Quantitative Evidence for their Use and Impact
A one day workshop exploring ways in which metrics related to the use of Social Web services can be used in order to provide evidence of how the services are being used; allow comparisons to be made with one's peers and enable trends in usage to be identified.
Storified by Kirsty Pitkin · Thu, Oct 27 2011 03:58:12
Dirty Words
Impact, ROI, Marketing....
All dirty, highly commercial words within the HE sector. However, in the current climate these issues are becoming more and more important to universities. Amber Thomas opened the workshop by explaining why these things need to be considered...
Why Impact, ROI and Marketing are No Longer Dirty WordsFlash Player 9 (or above) is needed to view presentations. We have detected that you do not have it on your computer. To install it, go here. 41 views, 0 favs, 0 embeds more
The theme of impact ran as a thread throughout all of the day's discussions, emphasising the difficulty of using social media metrics to clearly demonstrate a change in behaviour.
ULTIMATE FACEBALL!!1!flickr.com
Gaming and Data Quality
One of the major concerns for most participants was how well they could rely on evidence supplied by social media metrics.
If universities are to make key strategic decisions based on this data, or if individual academics are to be assessed in any way based on their influence via social media activity, these issues need to be explored further.
Here are some of the observations and concerns raised by participants, particularly in response to Brian Kelly's presentation, in which he warned of the need for healthy scepticism when considering metrics, and Martin Weller's presentation, in which he discussed the identity and role of the individual academic caught in the mix...
Surveying Our Landscape From Top to BottomFlash Player 9 (or above) is needed to view presentations. We have detected that you do not have it on your computer. To install it, go here. 125 views, 0 favs, 1 embed more
Be slightly skeptical,about impact metrics, says @briankelly at #ukolneim. Good point.quelet
Peer index building self referential cliques? #ukolneimsheilmcn
Identity, scholarship and metricsFlash Player 9 (or above) is needed to view presentations. We have detected that you do not have it on your computer. To install it, go here. 73 views, 0 favs, 0 embeds
interesting use of TweetStats (http://tweetstats.com/) and the flakiness of data as evidence #ukolneimsarahhorrigan
Metrics are exposing the tensions between academics and institutions - sharecropping vs traditional publication credit #ukolneimAJCann
Also, if you blog/contribute to another site and that has impact in terms of visits/tweets etc. all good for wider reputation too #ukolneimsuchprettyeyes
Is gaming inherent in metrics? Are there metrics which cannot be gamed? #ukolneimAJCann
Show Us The Money
Money was one of the key themes of the event - both the cost of collecting (or paying someone else to collect) social media metrics, and the role that money plays in telling a story with that data.
Ranjit Sidhu gave a rousing presentation, emphasising that "pound signs are good" and demonstrating clearly how metrics can be combined with offline data to create powerful arguments about the value of the social media engagement for the university.
#ukolneim Nobody wants to pay for external social media consultancy. We want free stuff!tepidmunroe
Gathering metrics is resource intensive #ukolneimsheilmcn
Indeed the cost is not just in terms of money, but also in energies required to set SM up. #ukolneim.quelet
#ukolneim re: costs I'd add that staff time can cost more than 3rd party tools but can be the best tailored filter for an organisationsuchprettyeyes
SiD, 11 july presentationFlash Player 9 (or above) is needed to view presentations. We have detected that you do not have it on your computer. To install it, go here. 88 views, 0 favs, 0 embeds more
'Pound signs are good' #ukolneimsarahhorrigan
#ukolneim I am impressed with @rssidhu 's examples, esp over the £value of a visit from prospective students in indiaambrouk
Being challenged by @rssidhu at #ukolneim to stop overcomplicating things, get the data, tell the narrative, wake up!ambrouk
Interesting comparison of online /offline enquiries and projected applications - have these been tested yet? does medium matter? #ukolneimsuchprettyeyes
Questions
The event raised a number of questions, many of which require further thought and exploration. Here is a selection, as shared via Twitter...
How do you make data from diverse online media outputs comparable? E.g. views of a blog post or slidecast vs a conference talk? #ukolneimt1mc
