Social Activity in social Media

In addition to the measures of what is happening within the community, brand outpost or the internal online workspace, where the activities are occurring also lends itself to measurement. Starting with social profiles, one of the easiest (and as it turns out most important) metrics to keep track of is profile completeness. Long ago, LinkedIn implemented an easy-to-understand indicator of profile completeness: Does a specific profile include a picture, an address, and contact information, for example? Because this information is often central to creating a relationship, the average state of completion is worth knowing. Profile data, actual content production, and community reputation are the primary visible attributes on which a decision to accept a connection request are based.

Be sure that you have a way to assess these. Relationships themselves are also worth tracking. To what extent is a community driving the creation of relationships? How many are being formed, and between whom? This can be understood by tracking the number of unidirectional (think “following” in Twitter) relationships as well the number of mutually affirmed friendships or other similar connections that exist. Add to this the relative number of communications that flow between mutually connected profiles to create a measure of the importance of relationships in day-to-day activities.

Outposts and communities the places where social activity happens are a final source of quantitative data that leads to an assessment of value. Within these social spaces, tracking the number of member versus nonmember interactions (if the latter are permitted), the number of times members log in, membership abandonment (for example, members who have not logged in for 90 days or more) all provide a basis to understand quantitatively what is happening inside social communities and by extension with the organizations that implement social media-based business programs.

As you work through the next sections, keep these initial measurement techniques and sources of data in mind. Rest assured that when you’re implementing social computing and social media techniques as a part of a business strategy, the outcomes can most certainly be held to quantitative performance standards.

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