#eMetrics
On Social Media Like Facebook, Your Company Is Just Renting
A few weeks ago I was in San Francisco giving a conference on privacy at eMetrics, the world’s leading Web Analytics conference. I took advantage of my trip to meet up with Avinash so we could talk and catch up on how things were going at Mind Your Group (Avinash is an advisor and partner at MYG).
Among various topics, he was telling me about his new role at Google and how what he mainly did now was meet with executives of large multinationals to show them the importance of the digital channel.
NextStage Predicts Gender and Age — Why Should You Care?
Yesterday I briefly presented at eMetrics the results of an independent test that was undertaken to audit the accuracy of the technology behind NextStage Analytics. For those who couldn’t attend, the accuracy of our predictions in this test were between 98% and 99%.
I’ll be publishing a White Paper explaining this test next week. In the meantime, I wanted to explain a little bit more about the value proposition that NextStage Analytics will provide in the near future and specially Age and Gender predictions.
Online Privacy Panel — eMetrics San Francisco
As you have read this year I attended without Aurélie eMetrics San Francisco as she had to take care of our most important project ever: Luca ;-)
This post is the first of a series that I’ll be writing in the coming weeks regarding some of the sessions and conversations that I had during the conference. Usually it’s Aurélie who writes these kind of posts, but I promissed her that I would represent her during and after the conference so here it goes.
A New Life Starts, But Some Things Don't Change
As you might have read, Aurélie and I had a great moment in our lifes this week with the birth of our son: Luca
Luca Dechamps Pols was born this Wednesday at 20h34, he weighted 3,260 kg and measured 50cm. It’s too soon to tell from whom he got his looks, but I can tell that he has his mother’s eyes (Russian influence).
I wanted to thank all emails and messages (sms, facebook, skype & twitter) that we have received. It is really a special moment and now we will start discovering how this is going to change our lifes. A friend of ours told me that without doing too complex statistics he could tell that we would spend less time facing computer screens ;-)
OX2 Web Analytics Day 2007: Thank You & Feedback
Here’s a little video presenting the Web Analytics Day that took place last week here in Brussels done by Roberto, one of our Design team members.
[Video embed - OX2 Web Analytics Day 2007 highlights video, needs manual recovery]
I wanted again to thank all the persons that made this unique event possible and specially to:
– Eric for having accepted to deliver 3 outstanding presentations that really made the day worth it.
Four Gurus For You (4G4U)
Well here is as promised a preview of the Four Gurus For You Session that took place last may in San Francisco during the Emetrics Summit. As you might know the International Committee of the Web Analytics Association organized an online event during the Emetrics Summit. This session intended to the WAA members that couldn’t attend Emetrics presented the 4 most renowned Gurus in Web Analytics answering questions from people attending the event (even virtually).
Visiting Avinash at Google in the Valley
The Friday following Emetrics, while Aurélie was attending the Predictive Analytics two day course, I was invited by Avinash to visit him at Google. I have to admit that I was pretty excited with the idea to visit Google’s offices as I didn’t attend the GAAC training in Dublin. So after a nice breakfast with Matthew and Jim I took a cab and went ahead to Mountain-view.
I had a taximan from Morocco that while driving was always looking to the back as we were having a very engaged discussion about the political situation of his country (in a Arabic influenced french). I have to admit that I regret to have launched the conversation as when we arrived at the highway I was afraid that we would get into an accident. But fortunately I got safe to Google’s HQ (a bit shaky I have to admit ;-)).
NeuroMarketing, Web Analytics & Ethics
Last Wednesday, Aurélie and I were exhausted from our previous days (since London we haven’t stopped talking, writing and working), so we decided to buy some easy cooking meals at Delhaize (our closest supermarket – 100 meters) and watch some TV to change our minds while relaxing on the sofa.
We then saw a documentary about the future of advertising on the RTBF (Belgian french speaking public TV station). What kind of publicity will we have in the future? Then a new concept appeared: NeuroMarketing. I was already familiar about NLP, but I never heard of NeuroMarketing.
Web Analytics Vendors, What's Your USP?
Yesterday, during the Emetrics Summit in London we were given the opportunity to ask questions to a panel of Web Analytics vendors that covered most of the top players of the Industry. Jim called it the ‘Vendors Variety Hour’. It was a pity that Ian Thomas could not participate as Microsoft hasn’t yet launched Gatineau ;-) (looking forward to see you in the panel next year).
Web Analytics Journey Index (WAJ)
This morning, I was surfing through different blogs to get some insights about people’s thoughts on the eMetrics Summit. Aurélie and I just attended it. It was a great event. Jim, I think it’s the best investment I’ve done this year! And I must admit that we’re still digesting… ;-)
While surfing Technorati, I saw on Robin’s blog a title that quickly cached my attention: “eMetrics Summit: Eric Peterson vs. Matt Belkin”. When I saw the title, I was intrigued to read the content. The post describes the different views of Eric that has proposed processes as the next Web Analytics next ‘hot topic’ versus Matt defending the importance of quick wins.
Digital Convergence & Future of Web Analytics
This morning I was reading an article in the magazine CNBC European Business (September 2006) by Joe Figueiredo “Come Toguether”. It starts like this: “Although sometimes obscured by the fog of hype, a real convergence of the information, communication and entertainment industries is under way in Europe.”
It’s not a magazine that I read often but Aurélie told me to read the article. So I took my cup of coffee, a little cigarette and started reading. All kind of thoughts & ideas were emerging as I was reading so I took notes and I wanted to share with you some of them in a brainstorm mode.
Future of Web Analytics Vendors
Following a very thoughtful comment of Avinash in my previous post, I’ve decided to answer in a new post. Avinash, even on a Friday afternoon, your comments remain pertinent and I quite agree on most aspects.
We can’t imagine where we’ll be within 10 years time as very little people saw things like ICQ, Google or even blogs coming. Fact remains, and you know that as well as I do, that the mathematical and statistical rules that determine success or failure of initiatives have not changed that much over time. It’s always a matter of how much money you’ve spent and how much you gain in order to determine return on investment and how to define who you’re going to target with your communication in order to assure this return. I think it’s more access to and use of this information that will have to change and even though Web Analytics products suppliers are racing for new features faster and faster, it’s clear that the ones that will win will be the ones open to their partners and listening to what the clients actually need.