Tracking the Blogging Tribe

Colorado-based blog research specialist Umbria Inc. has launched Tribe Analysis™, a tool aiming to provide marketers with a new approach to understanding the consumer motivation behind publicly posted online discussions.

The patent-pending approach will enable marketers to examine the common interests, opinions and behaviours of individuals accessing any public forum, such as a blog, online social network, message board or chat room. By aggregating this information and applying demographic segmentation and topic clustering, additional insights can be uncovered about bloggers' shared habits, likes and dislikes.

Using an approach that combines proprietary language processing and machine learning algorithms, Umbria is able to segment blogosphere data into the themes and topics of interest, by demographic profile.

Umbria says one application will be to identify where there is potential for co-marketing programmes. For example, if it is found that people buying flat screen TVs are also interested in mountain biking, marketing tactics such a sponsoring a bike race could be implemented; or if people interested in the latest mobile phone technology also like watching specific sports games, a telecoms supplier might choose to make those games available by download to mobile phone subscribers.

Explaining the breadth of potential uses for the technology, Umbria's President and Founder Howard Kaushansky said: 'Imagine the power of understanding what common interests are shared by supporters of a political candidate, or an entertainment genre, or a product. Umbria is way out in front on understanding who is speaking online and Tribe now allows us to uncover the common threads which bind groups together.'

The tool is currently in beta testing, and is expected to be available in the second half of the year. The firm is on the web at www.umbrialistens.com .

All articles 2006-23 written and edited by Mel Crowther and/or Nick Thomas, 2024- by Nick Thomas, unless otherwise stated.