This weekend saw a new rollout for Spark that streamlined the user interface, making it easier to see and interact with important information at a glance. One of the most noticeable changes is that the Insight Analytics page is now known as Insight Explorer.

This section of Spark is laid out in an intuitive fashion and has improved functionality. The new Insight Explorer section gives a more in-depth look at each data gathered for each individual insight by including a complete list of relevant URLs. These URLs can be sorted with the new global filter to find and highlight the material that is the most important to you.

The Bulk Options box can be checked to automatically select the individual boxes to the left of each URL. Use that option or select nodes individually and apply the Delete Selected Nodes feature or the Export Data icon.

Insight Explorer is laid out in an easy-to-read format that gives you a snapshot of the most important information, with the ability to delve further into each URL. Here’s a glance at some of the new features:

Site Type – Each site type is color-coded and has a corresponding abbreviation.

Sentiment – The circle next to the site type graphic will either be colored, red, green, or gray to represent the negative, positive, or neutral average sentiment level of each URL.

Page title – The title of the URL is displayed just to the right of the sentiment rating. It is bolded and in blue. If you click on the title, you will go to the Site Details page for that particular URL where more detailed information about that web page is shown.

Domain – Under the title on the left side is the domain of the URL. If you click on the domain, a direct link to the specific URL will pop up in a new tab in your web browser. If you roll your cursor over the domain, the full URL will appear.

Influence – This ranking orders each node in your insight according to Spark’s influence algorithm. This is the same proprietary algorithm as the Node Influence ranking on the Top Engagements Targets gadget.

Summary – This displays text from the URL that was indexed from RSS feeds or search engine APIs, and is often—but not always—the first words of the post. Each site will be different.

Options
• The Delete Node icon will delete the URL.
• The Favorite icon highlights that site by adding a favorite icon next to the sentiment score. Favorites can be used to develop a Daily Growth Report. Click the icon a second time to un-favorite a site.
• The Notes/Tasks icon allows you to add notes or tasks to the URL.

If the options exist for that URL, one to four feature icons may appear along the bottom of each listing.

• The Excerpt Available icon appears if Spark has captured at least one excerpt of overt sentiment. Click on the icon and a new box will appear below the listing with the text of the excerpt, its sentiment rating, and the date it was captured by Spark.

• The Notes/Tasks icon appears if one or more notes or tasks have been assigned by a user within the insight. Clicking on this icon takes you to the Site Details page, where all tasks and notes assigned are displayed.

• The Video Embed icon and External Comments icon will appear if a site offers API access to extra information such as videos or comment streams. Clicking on these icons takes you to the Site Details page, where the URL’s embedded video and comments section are displayed.

Last month, we rolled out a helpful new workflow management system. The tasks feature allows managers to assign tasks to employees within the Spark platform. A task can be created and assigned that relates to either a specific URL or insight, at which point assigner and assignee will receive email updates.

Spark’s new alert system can be set with user-specified parameters to email you when unusual traffic or spikes occur in your insight that need your attention.

An iterative development cycle is vitally important to our company. Spiral16 considers customer feedback to be essential and are fortunate to have engaged customers who share their time with us. As we move forward with improvements to Spark, our newly created S16 User Team will have our ear as we incorporate the following new features.

Here are some things Spiral16 is currently working on (not final layout–still in development):

Global Date Filtering
With the addition of a global date filter, users can now set a default date range and custom filters that will be automatically applied across all areas of an insight. One-stop filter and sorting options will save time and make it easier to build customized reports.

Insight Explorer
Based on usability best practices and client feedback, Spiral16 is redesigning the detailed list view of insights to include better at-a-glance information. This will help clients understand which URLs matter the most for each specific topic.

In addition, a new bulk-action option has been included to allow clients to quickly update sentiment scores, site-type categories, and date information on multiple URLs at once. A new visual layout will improve readability across the board.

Conversation Sentiment page
Spiral16 is redesigning our Conversation Sentiment page to match the Insight Explorer layout with a focus on readability, quick editing, and a better grasp of important sentiment nuggets at a glance.

Insight Summary page
In addition to ease of use with the global date filter (which will allow users to set a single date range for all reporting gadgets), Spiral16 is improving the Insight Summary page to allow users more control over how their reporting gadgets are displayed.

With a more dynamic feel, users can now control the layout more fully, greatly improving the reporting capabilities.

OVERLAND PARK, KAN. – Social media technology company Spiral16 announced today that Tracy Panko has been named as its new CEO. A strategic leader with a clear sense of vision, Panko will sharpen Spiral16’s brand message, propel forward development of the company’s premier social media monitoring solution, and expand the platform’s subscribers.

“Spiral 16 has developed Spark—a tool for monitoring and measuring social media that has strengths beyond its competition,” Panko says. “I look forward to telling the world about this robust tool and developing additional business opportunities for its use in vertical markets.”

Panko is a creative thinker who, as the CEO of both established companies and start-up operations, has launched over $50 million of successful new products, developed specific market-growth strategies, negotiated strategic alliances, and lead nationally dispersed sales teams to profitable growth. Recently as a partner with Kansas City-based Mid America Capital, she led the acquisition and growth of multiple companies.

Spiral16’s Spark is a powerful social media monitoring software tool. With Spark, users can analyze data on any given topic in near-real time, including automated sentiment and semantic analysis. One thing sets that Spark apart from other tools is the demonstrably consistent quality of data being shared with the customer. Spark’s results are high on relevancy and low on spam. Another unique aspect is Spark’s virtualization—a 3D visual mapping feature that makes it possible to identify hubs of influence and previously unknown connections and patterns in online communities.

Online:
www.spiral16.com

About Spiral16
Spiral16 is a social media technology company that helps companies uncover patterns within large sets of data. Spark, Spiral16’s social media monitoring solution, is a highly powerful software-as-a-service platform that monitors sentiment, identifies key influencers, and visualizes online data in near-real time. Based in Overland Park, Kan., some of Spiral16’s clients include professional sports franchises; major motion picture studios; biotech companies; and globally recognized advertising, marketing, and new media agencies.

Spiral16:
Eric Melin
Social Media Manager
(913) 944-4285
eric.melin@spiral16.com

LAWRENCE, KAN. – The World Company announced today that they will be using Spiral16’s social media monitoring software, Spark, as part of their social media monitoring and analytics packages.

“We’re excited to work with a local company that’s providing unique technology in social media,” World Company Social Media Manager Ben Smith said. “The World Company has a strong tradition of innovation in information gathering, and a partnership with Spiral16 continues our commitment to bringing our community and clients information using the best technology available.”

Along with their news and advertising services through print, television and online, the World Company offers local and regional businesses social media services and resources through a dedicated social media department, including strategy, monitoring, analytics, development, training, and account management.

Spiral16’s Spark is a powerful social media monitoring software tool. With Spark, users can analyze data on any given topic in near-real time, including automated sentiment and semantic analysis. What sets Spark apart from other tools is its virtualization—a 3D visual mapping feature. With the virtualization, it’s possible to identify hubs of influence and previously unknown connections and patterns in online communities.

About the World Company
The World Company was founded more than 100 years ago with the launch of a daily newspaper, which became the Lawrence Journal-World. In 1995, the Lawrence Journal-World became one of the first daily newspapers in the country to formally begin publishing on the Internet. It has been featured in an NPR series titled Convergence Capital USA, and described by the New York Times as the “newspaper of the future.” Today, nine of 10 local households turn to the company’s newspaper, cable television, or Internet editions to receive information. In the fall of 2001, the World Company became one of the first media groups to combine its print, television and Internet news-gathering into one newsroom. Along with the Lawrence Journal-World and a related group of community newspapers, The World Company consists of cable and broadcast television and news operations; a cutting edge DOCSIS 3.0-based cable network; magazine publishing; commercial software development; and a broad range of news, media and technology services.

Online:
www.ljworld.com
www.kusports.com
www.lawrence.com
www.sunflowerbroadband.com

About Spiral16
Spiral16 is an informatic software company that helps companies uncover patterns within large sets of data. Spark, Spiral16’s social media monitoring solution, is a highly powerful software-as-a-service platform that monitors sentiment, identifies key influencers, and visualizes online data in near-real time. Based in Overland Park, Kan., some of Spiral16’s clients include professional sports franchises; major motion picture studios; biotech companies; and globally recognized advertising, marketing, and new media agencies.

Online:
www.spiral16.com

Contact

The World Company:
Ben Smith
Social Media Manager
bsmith@ljworld.com
(785) 423-4538

Spiral16:
Eric Melin
Social Media Manager
(913) 944-4285
eric.melin@spiral16.com

The Inbound Marketing Summit is taking place in Boston today and Spiral16 has a team on the ground at Gillette Stadium.

He may not be Tom Brady, but our own Kelly Kearney will be throwing metaphorical touchdown passes of his own when he speaks on a panel at 4:55 EST today called “Grow Bigger Ears and Becoming Engaged in What’s Being Said About You.”

Here’s a synopsis of what will be covered on the panel today:

“Are you actively engaged in the conversations that are taking place online about you? Did you even realize that there were conversations happening? Your ability to have tools in place to monitor and respond to these conversations is vital to the development and maintenance of your online reputation. In a world of forums, blogs, comments, videos, podcasts, Twitter and other web-based communications tools, sentiment about a brand can change, literally, within hours. This session will provide you with actionable information on how you can begin growing bigger ears immediately and become engaged in what’s being said about you online.”

If you’re at IMS today, don’t forget to stop by the Spiral16 pod display and check out what we mean when we say “Go beyond social media monitoring.”

Follow Kelly on Twitter @KellyKearney for up-to-the-minute updates and stay tuned here for a full report.