Apple pie, Apple orchard, Apple cider, or Apple iPad

Monday, July 12th, 2010

On to part 2 of data quality! Ok, so BP was a bad example. Obviously, a lot of different brands and people and things will have the initials BP. It’s an isolated case. But is it? Here is another great example of how data quality begins at the very beginning of any social media research project.

The scenario is the same. We gathered thousands of verbatims from thousands of websites and created a word cloud of all things related to Apple. The usual suspects are all there. Competitive brands like HP, Hitachi, and Toshiba are well represented. And, since the iPad is the greatest discovery in all of mankind EVER, it is the most prominent feature of the cloud.
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But wait. Isn’t there more to Apple than just computers? Here is a second word cloud we created from the very same data. No manipulations and no sneaky subsampling. What’s with all this apple pie, apple cider, and apple cinnamon deliciousness? This is simply another great example of poor quality workmanship inviting terribly incorrect confounds.

Is social media research fast? Sure it is. It’s even faster if you ignore the annoying stage of data quality.

Like this blog? Here are two others in a similar vein.
British Petroleum, Brad Pitt, Blood Pressure, or Basis Points?
Coke it is! Or not. I’m not sure. I can’t tell.