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u - waremrx) cunomcw - Wednesday. April 20. 2011 O O 0 0 Waterloo company monitors 300ml networks to measure onlme impact Bvauuorre PIONG Putnam ,, . 4 ._ main website is absolutely essen- Chmflidesmff ‘ P05 t R a n k tial now, for everyone from politi- . cians to business people and those t's the 41st election in Canada’s workingin the non-profit sector. Ibistory. but the first social media About 80 per cent of the time. election, Under theTl/vitter hash- j” when people find out about a tag atelxml theres a constant ml] of _ :‘ company or brand, it's not through comment - political analysis. I N fif'i ‘ , the corporate website. Social net- humour. sarcasm. links and bravado , mm mt ' » ., 7 , works play a big part in driving â€"â€"&di in l40charactersorlem a" ' on v0” new. , , . 5 ’ . _ 31 11:53; traflic on the web. Using “fitter. Michael lgnatieff ' ’ ‘ .‘ -1_ T‘l‘éfi Auto manufacturers and smart challenged Stephen Harper to a , v j “a; phone companies are two indus- one-ontone debate. ’ 4; tries that are making their mark in Kitchener-Centre candidate , ' ' “ “is social media. said Pete Frisella, Stephen Woodworm shut down his ' ' g x $25 director of sales and development. account after using it to tell an 55.3; “They get it, and they under- ofiensive joke. (a stand they need to be involved in The party-affiliated Kitchener L 7 . ”j , it.“ he said. Waterloo candidatesareiockeying x“ as? g. is; . But pop-up ads aimed at a to use Twitter, Facebook and f“, 317" if broad general audience haven't YouTube to their advantage. ‘ ' proven to be effective. But how effective is social gi' ' . “The job ofadvertising online is media in this election? One Waterâ€" if“ ’ becoming more difficult because loo company is trying to find out. . _ fig": .. - the audience is becoming increas- PostRank lnc.. a provider of a ingly fragmented," Santa said. social media data and analysis. is “I" , $3 in“, " Recent research has indicated monitoring more than 20 different ~' 35431”. that influential bloggers can sway soeial networks to measure how ' ’ _ . k purchasing decisions even more people interact with content about _ {i ‘ than celebrities. Those bloggers the political parties. , ' _ _ . 5 may not have a huge audience, but “This is not commentary. it's - ' ' v3“? = they tend to be trusted sources in data." said lason Santo. marketing h“ » T Q ., “’ small, specialized niches manager at PostRank. . . , ’ cuff PostRank’s new product, Con< "We can measure â€" this story nect. which is currently in beta was shared by this many people testing, will help agencies evaluate online." how effective certain people and PostRank bills itself as the websites are, based on demo- largest aggregator of social engage- graphics and other data, and then ment data in the industry. . . . . . . facilitate connections to those University of Waterloo grad llya . greadGiggtzngrisefla and Jeff Weber of PostRank are analysmg the reach of social media during the federal influential publishers. Grigorik founded the business four ' mmmm “The smaller people who have years ago. ardent Conservative tweeter. while times. country, so measuring the usage of really SOlid- engaged audiences â€" TOdHY- 14 employees work (“it @jacklayton comes in sixth on a leff Weber is a user experience party websites is one way of theystand out, Weber said. Of an Office in Allen Square, meas- list of ardent New Democrats? designer who is preparing infer» “understanding how those mes- "That? what the whole Connect “ting engagement With Offline They've also measured the fre- mation graphics that focus specifi- sages go out through those hubs, PTOdQCt 15 trying t° d0- find the content sum as articles. P05t5 Md quency of sharing for articles that cally on the content that is being and paints a picture of how eflec- gems V‘dCOS' by the numb“ Of Com“ describe each parties‘ platform. pushed out through the parties' live those messages were," he said. ‘ meritSv tweets and bookmarks that pitches or promises. websites » The work that Post- “t‘k to a SPeCifiC UR!â€" “lgnatieff slams Harper over “It's a matter of showing it in a Bank is doing during this election mm Inc' This federal demo“ has proven Facebook screening" was shared simple form so people can underâ€" reflects the type of work theydo for to be a gold mine Of data. and POS- 1,149 times â€" the most shared stand it.“ Weber said. their clients all the time -â€" provid- "n mtpostranlr com [ tRank is Ott'el'mg a growing "W?“- story about the Conservative party. 'The data we have is so deep ing industry reports. brand ln “5h tab! at- i » tOI'Y Of 500i?“ media stories 0" its Meanwhile. the most shared story and there are so many different reports, raw data and other servic- httP' I / cg; ' com . i blog. ("98th about the Liberal party, "Michael ways of looking at it.“ Santa said. es, some available for free through ' “390 I l { For iflStaflce' did YOU know that lgnatieff announces Canadian Canadians spend more time the PostRankwebsite. i ; @th8fPet is the third most beaming Passport” was shared 226 online than people in any other An online presence beyond one i l i 1 1,8" I Jack ‘ i _ Layton A. ‘ c ~ fiNDP . i . l www.blllbrown.ndp,ca 5 | 0. 72, 5 . 4888 billbrowntindp ca mm in the (final awe"! to! an. a. in" g V (