Michael Wu, Ph.D. is Lithium's Principal Scientist of Analytics, digging into the complex dynamics of social interaction and online communities.
He's a regular blogger on the Lithosphere a...
Updated 7 months ago
Version 8.0
Blog Post
I find this article to be an excellent plain-language explanation of the importance of context when assessing these social relationships in a business environment. For instance if you are a product line manager, it is not enough to know that there are a high volume of conversations on your community.
What you really need to know is what specific products or issues are experiencing the highest conversational volumes.
Taking it a step further, additional context will help you uncover which individuals are the experts or go-to resources for specific products and areas of expertise.
Contextual detail will also unearth primary recommenders and detractors.
This type of context can not really be meaningfully derived from a static website, freeware forum or support portal.
kudos MikeW, thanks for posting this.