Digital Analytics in National Security

In today’s world of rapidly growing technology, there are billions of communications happening everyday using a plethora of technologies to accomplish the same goal—to communicate with each other. There are friends talking to friends, businesses talking to businesses, and even terrorists talking to terrorists. Can collecting and analyzing this big data actually save your life or the ones you love?

Before we answer that attention-grabbing question, let’s look at a few numbers:

Google reported figures back in 2009 to the SEC that their storage capacity is well over 100 Petabytes (That’s 1,000 Terabytes), they have over 1 trillion indexed URLs (website names), and over 3 million servers with over 7 billion page views per day. Facebook has over 1 billion users with a storage capacity over 300 Petabytes. Roughly 2.5 billion items are shared each day (status updates, wall posts, photos, videos, and comments), 2.7 billion likes per day, and 300 million photos uploaded every day. That means its adding over 500 terabytes of new data every single day into their databases. One interesting fact about Facebook is that 35% of the world’s digital photography is posted to Facebook.[1] YouTube has over 1,000 Petabytes (1 Exabyte) of storage capacity with over 72 hours of content added each minute with over 4 billion views per day. Twitter’s numbers are also staggering with over 124 billion tweets per year or 4,500 tweets per second.[2]

Social media is filled with big data, and we haven’t even looked at text messages, phone calls, and emails. What about Skype, Facetime, Google Hangouts, and other video/text chat services? There are about 6 trillion text messages sent every year or 193,000 text messages sent per second in the United States with an average of 876 per person each year. I know what some of you are thinking… you know you send a lot more than that, and if you have teenagers then that number must be multiplied by at least 20. There are 2.2 trillion cell phone calls made per year, and to make things a little more interesting I have included a graphic of facts about the emails we send and receive[3]

With all this communications data, do you think it could be used to protect us from another terrorist attack? Yes, of course!

How can analyzing all that information protect this country?

It’s hard enough (costly) to collect all that data, but the real value comes from analyzing it into meaningful information that we can use to benefit our personal or business goals. I would like to focus on the implications of all this data in relation to national security. The current controversy about the collection of these communications by the National Security Administration has caused many people to feel uneasy about their right to privacy. It’s no secret that these communications are tracked, stored, and shared with other organizations. These databases collect a vast amount of data, but it is obviously impossible for people to look at all of it. Because of this big data, several complex models and algorithms scan the data based off specified tags and conditions in order to draw conclusions.[4] This is known as digital analytics. It would take several matching conditions, such as a criminal investigation, for a human being to actually look at your communications. Is it worth it to prevent a crime? Do you think the two men responsible for the Boston Marathon bombings were communicating about their intentions via text or any other technology prior to the event? I’m sure they did in one way or another. Were there communications intelligence gathered prior to September 11, 2001 that revealed the intentions of the attacks? Using the communications data to catch “red flags” will continue to keep people safe from such crimes.

Along with government agencies, private companies are collecting information on you also, as displayed in the video below:

http://nowth.is/1f9mzam

Most companies collect specific data on you as you browse the web and/or communicate as do government agencies. Companies do it to target advertising to you and the government agencies do it to protect you from people wishing to do harm.

Conclusion

All these trillions of communications (web-based or not) are collected and stored to make the world a better place, to save the company’s marketing dollars, give you ads on things you actually might care about (I don’t want to see ads to buy the Twilight series on DVD), and to protect you from harm. Social media is very powerful and we should embrace it because it can provide real time information which can be beneficial for us to know before the media can deliver it to us. One interesting example of the power of social media is when a man tweeted about the raid to capture Osama Bin Laden before anyone else knew about it.

You can read his Twitter posts of the raid along with a short introduction here.

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[1] Kern, Aliza. August 22, 2012. http://gigaom.com/2012/08/22/facebook-is-collecting-your-data-500-terabytes-a-day/

[2] Hunt, Ira. Chief Technology Officer for CIA. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GUPd2uMiXXg

[3] Radicati Group, Inc. http://www.radicati.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/Email-Statistics-Report-2013-2017-Executive-Summary.pdf

[4] Information Week. “Military Uses Big Data for Spy Tech.” http://www.informationweek.com/big-data/big-data-analytics/military-uses-big-data-as-spy-tech/d/d-id/1109641?

Digital marketing today

"There is one difference between winners and losers when it comes to web analytics. Winners, well before they think data or tool, have a well structured Digital Marketing & Measurement Model. Losers don't." - Avinash Kaushik in his blog post.

If you have read any blog post here you will notice that it’s related to digital analytics or web analytics. And, all of which tie up with digital marketing, which is where the sum of efforts you put into digital analytics (DA) is headed, in making your digital marketing better.

But, what is digital marketing anyway?

Source

Digital marketing is selling things to people via anything that is electronic, has a pretty screen and will let people click on it. Here's a definition from Wikipedia that leaves no doubts:

"Digital marketing is marketing that makes use of electronic devices (computers) such as personal computers, smartphones, cellphones, tablets and game consoles to engage with stakeholders. Digital marketing applies technologies or platforms such as websites, e-mail, apps (classic and mobile) and social networks. Many organisations cross traditional and digital marketing channels."

Today, when you talk about digital marketing you will hear words like Analytics, Customer Relationship Management (CRM), Visitors, Views, Engagement and what not. Digital Marketing is not what it once was in the 1990’s. Looking back, it has come a long way since.

Digital marketing centers around creating an experience for your customer, be it via Online, mobile or within social networks. It involves listening to how your customers interact with your digital content. Then, monitoring, predicting, experimenting and adapting what you deliver to what your customers want.

At this point, it's worth musing what Seth once said about connections in the digital age:

"There is no market for humming, for example, because everyone has unlimited humming at their disposal at all times. So, in the abundant digital world, what's scarce? Where is the economy?

It's in connection.

Who trusts you? Who wants to hear from you? Who will collaborate and support and engage with you? 

These are things that don't scale to infinity. These are precious resources."

By knowing who your customer is, what he does and a whole lot of other details that have sparked off the privacy debate, you can make your marketing more relevant and experience more personalized. (You've surely read this one, I presume.)

Almost everything digital that touches your customer, can be used to make his or her experience wholesome. Like, altering your landing page based on feedback from your digital metrics. And, with the state to which social media has evolved to what it is today, and data driven decisions it is possible to reach out to your customers at a personal level than ever before. It possible to connect with your customer than ever before.

Previously, what was once traditional marketing, today works in tandem alongside digital. Here’s an example of how that could be done:

“Each year companies spend millions of dollars for a 30-second Super Bowl ad to reach a wide and captive audience. By adding a digital call to action--like an invitation to like the brand’s Facebook page to be entered in a giveaway--brands can extend the value of that advertisement and get a broader return on their (very significant) investment. Once that consumer engages online, marketers can provide additional details about the product in the ad, invite them to opt-in for future communication, or offer a digital coupon or promotion in order to encourage the type of active engagement that digital channels have to offer.”

Here are few relevant numbers that show the state of things these days:

• Internet users: More than 36% of the global population today, compared to 21.7% in 2008.

• Mobile phone users: 60.7% of the population this year, compared to 40.0% in 2008.

• Smartphone users: Just under one-third of mobile users and about 20% of the global population, compared to 3.7% of mobile users and 1.5% of the population in 2008.

• Social network users: About a quarter of the global population, compared to 8.3% in 2008.

• Facebook users: More than 15% of the global population, compared to 3.1% in 2008.

• Total ad spending: $517.10 billion in 2013, up 2.8% from last year, compared to $484.30 billion in 2008.
  
• Digital ad spending: More than 22% of total ad spending in 2013, compared to 12% in 2008.

• Mobile ad spending: Just 2.6% of total ad spending and 11.9% of digital ad spending, compared to 2.1% in 2008.

And to close, here's an infographic from Mobile marketing watch relating analytics and digital marketing:

Source

References:

1. Digital Marketing and measurement model 

2. Digital Marketing

3. The end of the expert - why no one in marketing knows what they're doing

4. Making digital and traditional marketing work together

5. Worldwide Ad Growth Buoyed by Digital, Mobile Adoption

6. Seth's Blog: Scarcity and abundance in the digital age

7. Infographic: Analytics Driving Digital Marketing

Creating a Mini-Landing Page or Site for your Website!

Most experts in the Digital Analytics world are familiar with what a Landing page is and its significance. Wikipedia defines a Landing Page as “a single web page that appears in response to clicking on a search engine optimized search result or an online advertisement that is meant to convert site visitors into sales or leads”. [1] But another possibly under-utilized web marketing technique is the use of the actual Ads or what are called Mini-Sites as mini-Landing pages. These are the advertisements that sells a websites Landing page!

It does not matter if your website has one page or hundreds, identifying and optimizing your Landing page is vital to the success of your website. No matter the purpose, whether your site was written as a source of information or your goal is to generate sales, it is very important to accurately measure traffic on your site to isolate those pages that are ground zero for entrance to your website. After all what good is a website if it can’t draw in traffic and generate intended conversions? The Mini-Landing page or site just adds another measurable way to draw in visitors to a site. Mini-Landing pages are typically Ad based versus Mini-sites which contain significantly more information where “multiple pages are presented in a single navigable view, much like a traditional web site.” [5]

So what elements make a good text Ad or mini-Landing site? In general the mini-Landing page has very similar features to an actual Landing page just on a smaller more refined scale. In an article by Paras Chopra on the Search Engine Journal Website a mini-landing page ad should have the following elements to be most successful. [2]

Main Elements of a good Mini-Landing Page Ad

Clear Purpose and Direction

The mini-Landing page should be very straight forward in its purpose and guide the visitor to the intended next location, which in this case, is your website’s Landing page. It is however even more critical that the ad has a short, straight forward headline with no unnecessary fluff that may confuse or distract the visitor from the intended goal. It should quickly catch the reader’s attention with a key idea or offer that motivates a visitor to your website. Effective persuasion is the key here!

Catchy Text and Visuals

Customers reading your ad should be able to tell almost immediately what the purpose of the page is. It should be very plainly written and obvious. Any text should be clear and to the point, and properly sized and placed. Your visuals should quickly provide the reader with the knowledge of how your offer is relatable to them. [2]

Example of a mini-Landing page provided by unbounce.com

Social Evidence

Nothing sells better than a recommendation or positive feedback from another visitor. It helps to apply some measure of “social proof” [2] if possible that your website can deliver exactly what is being advertised. It can be in the form of trusted symbols establishing achievements or awards your website may have earned providing verifiable proof of a websites legitimacy and standards. Relevant text specifically indicating who the ad is intended for works well also. [2]

“Call to Action” [2]

Last but certainly not least is the request for the customer to actually click on the ad leading them to your website’s Landing page.

Regardless of which technique is chosen to represent a website, either would be beneficial in providing additional track-able ways to generate traffic to your site.

Example of a mini-Landing site provided by heaventhemes.com

Checkout the following articles for more detailed information on creating a mini-Landing page Ad or Site.

How to Write a Killer AdWords Ad by Treating It a Mini Landing Page for a more detailed listing of the elements recommended for a great ad. [2]

Landing Pages or Mini-site? By Josiah Williams at Notationgroup.com for an interesting article on mini-sites. [4]

References:

1.      1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Landing_page

2.     2.  http://www.searchenginejournal.com/write-killer-adwords-ad-treating-mini-landing-page/30508/

3.     3.  https://engagor.com/blog/5-ways-to-boost-your-landing-page-success/

4.      4. http://www.notationgroup.com/landing-page-or-mini-site/

5.      5. http://www.unbounce.com

6.      6. http://heaventhemes.com

The Game of Digital Analytics: Gamification of the Metrics

The Game of Digital Analysis:

Gamification of the Metrics

           

What is Gamification?

            It is simply absorbing the fun elements in a game (what we call Game Mechanics or Game Techniques) into real-world applications.[1]  It is simply taking the fun and often addicting features of video games and applying those same features to real-world, non-game situations and applications.  The last decade saw a huge surge in the gaming industry, surpassing the music and movie industry, to become the leading form of entertainment globally.[2]

             
Gamification of Analytics

            In a way, business and digital analysts already have a built-in game feature when it comes to analyzing the metrics and creating actionable items off of those analyses.  Imagine for a moment that the metrics are points within a game, which is one of the five most commonly used game mechanics[3].  The object, just like in a video game, is to get the highest score possible.  For the analyst, this comes in the form of higher site traffic, or higher customer conversion.       

When an analyst pours over the metrics, identifies an area of improvement, and then implements changes to improve the business, they have the benefit of running the numbers again after the improvements to determine whether or not a new “high score” was achieved.  This desire to observe, strategize and implement new methods is a pattern found in both analysts and “gamers”.

            Moreover, there are other commonalities which show correlation between analysis and gaming.  Multiple tools exist to show comparisons between different companies success or site traffic, providing the analysts with something akin to a leaderboard, which is another one of the commonly used game mechanics.  This gives the analyst, not only the ability to see how their actions improve their business, but how their changes stack up against the competition as well.

            But why stop there?  The next step might possibly be to make the analytics tools themselves, such as Adobe SiteCatalyst or Google Analytics, function more like video games.  What if a failing metric took on the characteristics, and perhaps even the avatar, of a video game “mini-boss” and it was up to the analyst to determine the correct course of action to defeat that adversary?  Another option might be to construct the analytics tool in such a way as to create “levels” of success so that as the analyst improves the metrics through analysis and implementation, new levels are achieved via increased revenue or decreased cost.

Whatever the future of the analytics tools, it is clear that at least in some small way, analysts just might be gamers at heart.  Why not indulge that passion and turbo charge the fun factor of the analytics industry?

Driving Success through Gamification           

          

As a final note, there have been many studies and trends showing that the gamification of websites and apps drives engagement with products and services and creates a stronger, deeper connection to the customer.  One such example is this post on Social Media Today[4].  While the world of digital analytics evolves and companies benefit more and more from these “gamer” analysts, perhaps the analysts should also try to incorporate gamification into their repertoire of actionable items. 

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[1] http://www.yukaichou.com/gamification-examples/what-is-gamification/#.UwDxGLRB-Hw

[2] https://sites.google.com/site/kmsocial/gamification

[3] http://mashable.com/2011/07/28/gamification/

[4] http://socialmediatoday.com/1688141/increase-community-size-participation-and-loyalty-using-gamification

Digital Analytics in the Sporting Environment - Turning Data into Wins

 

Current Climate of Sports Analytics

Despite the increased availability to data and analysis techniques that can potentially aid sports management organizations of decisions, many teams do not use the tools available to them.

Interest in the sports analytics field has been rapidly growing as of late, highlighted by the book and film, Moneyball, which not only grossed over $75 million but also drew attention to the significant potential digital analytics holds within the sporting environment.

While the term ‘Moneyball’ was coined by author Michael Lewis in his 2003 book to describe a strategy that utilizes analytics, “Sports Analytics” involves the gathering and collection of data, data management, statistical analysis, data visualization and information systems to deliver better information more efficiently to decision makers within an organization. The technology behind these tools has advanced rapidly in the last decade, making access to immense amounts of data more readily available than ever before. [1]

 

Evolution of Analytics within Sports

 

The digital analytics field itself is still a developing industry therefore asking executives, managers, coaches and players to embrace analytical tools and techniques is a difficult task within the high pressure field of professional sports. Organizations are hesitant to expand their investment in a sports analytics program without an understanding of a clear proven way forward and sense of potential value. While sports analytics will continue to evolve as a field the following are challenges facing adoption of these tools and techniques: [1]

 

·         Natural inclination to resist change - Individuals and organizations both internal and external to the sporting environment are naturally inclined to resist change, making the shift toward basing major decisions on data and analysis driven models a slow moving process.

·         Distrust of the unfamiliar - Team executives are unfamiliar with statistical modeling, therefore have a predisposed distrust or discomfort with analytic tools and techniques.

·         Old-school traditional decision making vs. progressive data driven decision making – Similar to the business world, decision making in the sports industry is intuitive and instinctual. Shot-calling executives may have started as scouts or coaches, which had to rely on personal experience to make decisions. These same decision makers would view the use of digital analytics and data models as non-credible resources. As this video clip from Moneyball shows, organizational friction can occur in regards to how analytics should be utilized and trusted when making player personnel decisions.

·         Technical Barriers – General communication barrier between analysts and front office of a sports franchise, as typically those with decision making power in an organization are not familiar with the language of analytics.

·         Limited financial resources to spend on analytics

·         Implementation - Turning the data gathered from statistical tools into useful data is the main challenge teams now face as they implement new data collection and analysis methods. Then a team must determine what tools and techniques create the best value to help the team win. [2] 

The pace of adoption and evolution in sports analytics will depend on how quickly leaders are aware that significant investments into analytics will deliver a true competitive advantage. Within the past few years increased knowledge sharing and development of these analytic programs have come to the forefront of the sporting environment. Global conferences and college courses aid in improving communication skills between sports, analytics and data sciences.

 
 

The ‘Who’, ‘What’, and ‘Why’ of Sports Analytics

 

The expansion into sports analytics territory also comes with many questions. Understanding the strengths and weaknesses in your organizations can help guide how sports analytics are best utilized. Being able to harness its analytic capabilities and work past obstacles can create a significant competitive advantage on the field

 

Who can use Analytics?

·         General Manager and Executives – making player personnel decisions

·         Coaches – reinforces gut instinct or uncovers something not previously seen, whether this be tactically or personnel related. As one NBA head coach noted “It’s a good backup for what your eyes see, but we can’t make all your decisions based on it; the tools can’t measure heart, chemistry and personality.”

·         Players -

o   Assists in injury analysis - understanding when to taper off individual training schedules to avoid overuse injuries and ensure players are kept fresh for game day
 

o   Performance analysis – objectively know players are in optimal condition going into games by monitoring training load and determine who isn’t working hard enough

o   Technical analysis – tracking individual movements to improve tactical analysis [2]

·         Referees - Improve officiating of games by using analytics to determine if a refs positioning and site lines were appropriate based on the calls which were made

·         Fans – Digital analytics can also help improve fan/consumer experience, by putting meaningful numbers in front of fans and GMs alike, rather than outdated meaning less statistics. [3]

 

What is used to gather sports analytic data?

The following companies are changing the way data is collected as well as the types of data available for consumption:

·         STATS LLC – Utilizes cameras and optical tracing technology to capture the positioning of everything that moves on a court or field of play, from the players to the ball to the referees. This data can be captured at a rate of 25 times a second, critical in high movement sports. [5]

·         Catapult Sports – Utilizes GPS, accelerometers and other wearable technology to track players movements and physical characteristics such as heart rates.[4]
 

 Video: How does the Catapult system collect data from athletes?

 

 

 

 

 

Why are sports analytics effective?

Digital analytics are causing a major shift in the type of data available in sports from specific court/field actions (attempted shots, passes, rebounds etc.) to data drawn from continuous movements of every element within a play. Analytics also play a large role in front-office player personnel decisions.

 

Examples:

·         The Rockets signed Carlos Delfino last season in part because the camera data revealed he grabbed an unusually large percentage of rebounds that fell near him, very valuable for a player in his position. [3]

·         Regarding the analysis of officiating, “We will use whatever data and means we can to improve our referees,” says Steve Hellmuth, the NBA’s executive vice president of operations and technology. “The refs haven’t been tracked before. Now for the first time, they will be.” [3]

·         The Moneyball strategy is a prime example of how sports analytics can be utilized, implemented and developed into a value added investment. The Moneyball strategy is a concept used to identify undervalued players, so that teams with lower payrolls can still compete at a high level. Currently both the Oakland A’s and the Tampa Bay Rays have followed this strategy to success, making the 2013 playoffs despite being in the bottom 5 payrolls league-wide.  [6]

·         Data visualization showing advanced player statistics and movement tracking

 

 

 

Sports Analytics Overview

 

With today’s speed of computing, increase in processing power, as well as economies of scale sport organizations are more able than ever to move toward implementation of a data-driven sports analytics model, with the end goal being able to create a competitive advantage on the field of play.

 

Along with the significant leap forward in technology in terms of data gathering, through companies such as Stats LLC and Catapult Sports, more knowledge is readily available for those franchises willing to move forward into this field. Benjamin Alamar, an industry leading sports analytics consultant, speaker and author of “Sports Analytics”, has successfully has helped teams, businesses and individuals establish analytic systems – translating facts, figures and other data – into usable information.

 

“The franchises who are successful in truly leveraging analytics will be those that come to see data and model results as the mechanism through which information (unstructured text as well structured data) is transformed to deliver insight to decision makers in a well-contextualized format” - Ben Alamar, whose clients include San Francisco 49ers, ESPN, Portland Trailblazers, OKC Thunder, among many others. [7]

 

Building more effective and unified communication channels between digital analytics and the sporting environment is vital to the success of a sports analytic program. This will enable the analysts, coaches, players, scouts and general managers to work with one another to improve the team and the ultimate goal: Wins.

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[1] http://www.analytics-magazine.org/special-articles/525-beyond-moneyball-the-future-of-sports-analytics

[2] http://allthingsd.com/20130523/analytics-is-not-a-strategy/

[3] Lowe, Zach. “Seven Ways the NBA’s Camera System Can Change the Future of Baseketball.” http://grantland.com/the-triangle/seven-ways-the-nbas-new-camera-system-can-change-the-future-of-basketball/. 4 Sept 2013. Web. Feb 2014.

[4] http://www.catapultsports.com/research/

[5] http://www.stats.com/

[6] http://www.cbssports.com/mlb/story/21989238/baseball-payrolls-list

[7] Alamar, Benjamin. “Sports Analytics”. http://www.alamarsportsanalytics.com. Aug 2013.  Web. Feb 18^th.