NuConomy preps social Web analytics and incentive platform
In the age of AJAX, user-generated content and the data mining of Web attention data as the currency of the realm, there is a thirst for a generalized platform that measures more than page views and a few other basic metrics. NuConomy, a five-person Israeli startup based in Tel Aviv, has come up with a way to measure the value of the contributions of users and the performance of various content and features.
NuConomy Studio provides an analytics platform for enabling customized revenue sharing and incentive programs based on a number of ranking criteria and other factors, according to Shahar Nechmad, CEO of NuConomy. "Yahoo, Amazon and others have hundreds of people to do analytics but smaller sites like Digg and others don’t have money to do that. We can give a platform to everyone," Nechmad said. In addition to analytics, NuConomy has elements in the suite for proactively improving site metrics, such as visitor loyalty, and monetization.
The NuConomy Dashboard shows KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) and various reports on site activity, such as top users and top content by activity
The on demand NuConomy platform handles the data warehousing, OLAP cubes and analysis providing reports and simulation and forecasting tools.
The ranking wizard lets site owners create formulas to measure contribution to the business of each user and content, combining as many criteria as they want.
The ranking formula wizard (above) allows sites to create customized formulas and to slice data by several criteria, such top rated content, time spent, number of contributions and amount of Talkback, to determine the ROI per user or contributor. For example, NuConomy can determine the overall contribution of users over time and changes in user or content type popularity, and send out alerts about changes in site and user activity.
NuConomy Studio also has an rewards module, allowing for revenue sharing and points and club card incentive programs. It supports financial transactions from PayPal, bank checks and direct transfers. The company is working on developing correlation metrics to assist in maximizing income for sites, Nechmand said. For example, lots of page views doesn't necessarily correlate to highest ranking or value user or content.
“For example, one blogger or contributor writes about a Toshiba laptop and another about politics, and the political blogger drives traffic hugely with a post. But the political blog won’t monetize as well as Toshiba blog, even with greater traffic. If you used the usual way to measure contributions (page views rather than revenue per click), you will give more money to the wrong blogger,” Nechmad said.
A dynamic Tag Cloud surfaces what topics make a site tick, including drill down on specific users
The basic service, which offers more than Google Analytics, will be free and NuConomy will charge for premium services around personalization, ad monetization and incentive programs, Nachmad said. Premium services in those categories could include a recommendation engine and reputation system. Via an API, users can create widgets, such as for most popular contributors or blog posts based on ranking formulas.
At this point the NuConomy Studio suite is in beta and the company has just a few customers. The next step, according to Nachmad, is to formally launch the product and open offices in Silicon Valley. Nechmad was formerly Business Development Manager of the Microsoft Technology Center in Israel, and co-founder and NuConomy CTO Haggai Shachar was Integration Division Manager.