Pulse : The New Science of Harnessing Internet Buzz to Track Threats and Opportunities

**The ultimate guide to mining the Internet for real-time assessment of trends and data**Showing how the Internet can be an incredible tool for businesses and others to measure trends in real time, Pulse describes tools for inexpensive and real time measurement methodologies businesses can start using right away. This timely book also puts this emerging science in perspective and explains how this new measurement instrument will profoundly change decision making in business and government. * Shows how the Internet can be used as an incredibly powerful measurement tool * Reveals how to mine the Internet to measure and forecast business progress * Written by leading expert in business analytics and performance management Pulse reveals how the Internet is evolving into a tool for measuring and forecasting trends in society, the economy, public opinion and even public health and security. It is an absolutely essential book for every business leader to turn a powerful, underutilized tool to its complete potential.

Vastly larger than all the data collected by governments, businesses, and academics using traditional surveys, the Internet is evolving into a cutting-edge tool for measuring and forecasting trends in society, the economy, public opinion, and even public health and security. Yet the potential of this powerful new measurement instrument is still almost entirely untapped. Written by Douglas Hubbard—author of How to Measure Anything, the number-one selling business math book for three years running—Pulse shows how the buzz from two billion mobile device and Internet users can be harnessed to produce real-time data about major trends faster, better, and cheaper than traditional polls and government reports.

Praise for Pulse: The New Science of Harnessing Internet Buzz to Track Threats and Opportunities

"In this well-written and entertaining book, Douglas Hubbard takes us on a fascinating journey and describes the work of the pioneers in this new science. He shows that the ideas, practical applications, and methodological approaches of this emerging field, often pioneered in the health sciences, far transcends applications in public health and public policy, and is a must-read for virtually every researcher, manager, and decision-maker who requires real-time data for forecasting and situational awareness."—Gunther Eysenbach, MD, MPH, Director of the Consumer Health and Public Health Informatics Lab, University Health Network, Toronto, Canada, and Associate Professor, University of Toronto

"Hitting the 'Like' button on someone's Facebook status, downloading a Lady Gaga song on iTunes, or Googling the game 'Angry Birds' are no longer simple gestures of preference. As Hubbard shows, these actions are your contribution to megatrends about what society is thinking now and what it might need, want, or fear in the future."—Ricardo Valerdi, PhD Research Associate, Engineering Systems Division, MIT

"Hubbard is one of the first to show us how the vast powers of the Internet can be harnessed to let the data speak to us in producing timely and reliable economic and financial forecasts. This is no small feat, and readers will be rewarded with many more and highly practical insights."—Daniel Hofmann, Group Chief Economist, Zurich Financial Services

"Doug Hubbard has written the first comprehensive book about the social data revolution and its implications for macrotrends and decision-making. Combining research from disparate fields and a variety of data sources, Hubbard creates an insightful and compelling vision of how social data will impact individuals, companies, and society."—Andreas Weigend, PhD, Director of Social Data Lab, Lecturer, former chief scientist, Amazon.com

"This book will introduce how the Internet can be used to assess market trends and public opinion before the slower and far more expensive, traditional government reports and Gallup polls are published. It could be similar to having a real-time "Dow Jones" index for buzz about a company or confidence in the economy. The book will talk about how to take this raw data and validate it using some traditional methods without relying on them entirely in the future. It will discuss how this will eventually effect business and government in a much broader sense. For example, this tool allows for a new kind of real-time decision analysis that will greatly improve productivity. Pulse will describe how most major decisions are made on information that was actually available quite a long time prior to the beginning of the analysis of the decision, nevermind the decision itself. But real-time information about socio-economic trends and public opinion will allow for a kind of "programmed trading" for some decisions similar to how trading firms automate buying and selling. Specific examples include: Specific examples will incude: A Canadian epidemiologist tracked Google searches on the phrase "flu sympoms". He used this information to track flu outbreaks faster than the Canadian health authorizes could keep up. His success later inspired Google's "Flu Trends" tool. Researchers at HP labs showed how tracking Twitter comments about upcoming movies could reliably predict box office success better than any other method. It will show how the number of Google searches nationwide on the term "unemployment" (publically available through "Google trends") tracks very closely to Bearue of Labor Statistics (BLS) unemployment reports. The difference is that BLS releases its data monthly after samply 60,000 households while Google trends data is available weekly and for free. Research by Carnegie Mellon students show that tracking Twitter comments produces nearly the same results for consumer confidence and political polls as Gallup polls would produce - except that the results are real-time and free. I'll introduce the possibility that even tracking auctions on ebay, ranks of books on Amazon, or job-seeking websites may become the new way to track real time data about the economy and trends in public opnion. LA County detected (with 85% accuracy) collusive fraud rings in public assistance programs based onn analysis of links in social networks. "Semantic" analysis tools are even being developed to process thousands of blogs and Facebook comments that could be used to assess security threats like potential terrorism."-- "This book will introduce how the Internet can be used to assess market trends and public opinion before the slower and far more expensive, traditional government reports and Gallup polls are published. It could be similar to having a real-time "Dow Jones" index for buzz about a company or confidence in the economy. The book will talk about how to take this raw data and validate it using some traditional methods without relying on them entirely in the future. It will discuss how this will eventually effect business and government in a much broader sense. For example, this tool allows for a new kind of real-time decision analysis that will greatly improve productivity. Pulse will describe how most major decisions are made on information that was actually available quite a long time prior to the beginning of the analysis of the decision, nevermind the decision itself. But real-time information about socio-economic trends and public opinion will allow for a kind of "programmed trading" for some decisions similar to how trading firms automate buying and selling. Specific examples include: Specific examples will include: A Canadian epidemiologist tracked Google searches on the phrase "flu symptoms". He used this information to track flu outbreaks faster than the Canadian health authorizes could keep up. His success later inspired Google's "Flu Trends" tool. Researchers at HP labs showed how tracking Twitter comments about upcoming movies could reliably predict box office success better than any other method. It will show how the number of Google searches nationwide on the term "unemployment" (publicly available through "Google trends") tracks very closely to Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) unemployment reports. The difference is that BLS releases its data monthly after sampling 60,000 households while Google trends data is available weekly and for free. Research by Carnegie Mellon students show that tracking Twitter comments produces nearly the same results for consumer confidence and political polls as Gallup polls would produce - except that the results are real-time and free. I'll introduce the possibility that even tracking auctions on ebay, ranks of books on Amazon, or job-seeking websites may become the new way to track real time data about the economy and trends in public opinion. LA County detected (with 85% accuracy) collusive fraud rings in public assistance programs based on analysis of links in social networks. "Semantic" analysis tools are even being developed to process thousands of blogs and Facebook comments that could be used to assess security threats like potential terrorism."-- Provided by publisher "This book will introduce how the Internet can be used to assess market trends and public opinion before the slower and far more expensive, traditional government reports and Gallup polls are published. It could be similar to having a real-time "Dow Jones" index for buzz about a company or confidence in the economy. The book will talk about how to take this raw data and validate it using some traditional methods without relying on them entirely in the future. It will discuss how this will eventually effect business and government in a much broader sense. For example, this tool allows for a new kind of real-time decision analysis that will greatly improve productivity. Pulse will describe how most major decisions are made on information that was actually available quite a long time prior to the beginning of the analysis of the decision, nevermind the decision itself. But real-time information about socio-economic trends and public opinion will allow for a kind of "programmed trading" for some decisions similar to how trading firms automate buying and selling. Specific examples include: Specific examples will incude: A Canadian epidemiologist tracked Google searches on the phrase "flu sympoms". He used this information to track flu outbreaks faster than the Canadian health authorizes could keep up. His success later inspired Google's "Flu Trends" tool. Researchers at HP labs showed how tracking Twitter comments about upcoming movies could reliably predict box office success better than any other method. It will show how the number of Google searches nationwide on the term "unemployment" (publically available through "Google trends") tracks very closely to Bearue of Labor Statistics (BLS) unemployment reports. The difference is that BLS releases its data monthly after samply 60,000 households while Google trends data is available weekly and for free. Research by Carnegie Mellon students show that tracking Twitter comments produces nearly the same results for consumer confidence and political polls as Gallup polls would produce - except that the results are real-time and free. I'll introduce the possibility that even tracking auctions on ebay, ranks of books on Amazon, or job-seeking websites may become the new way to track real time data about the economy and trends in public opnion. LA County detected (with 85% accuracy) collusive fraud rings in public assistance programs based onn analysis of links in social networks. "Semantic" analysis tools are even being developed to process thousands of blogs and Facebook comments that could be used to assess security threats like potential terrorism."-- Provided by publisher The ultimate guide to mining the Internet for real-time assessment of trends and data Showing how the Internet can be an incredible tool for businesses and others to measure trends in real time, Pulse describes tools for inexpensive and real time measurement methodologies businesses can start using right away. This timely book also puts this emerging science in perspective and explains how this new measurement instrument will profoundly change decision making in business and government.-Shows how the Internet can be used as an incredibly powerful measurement tool -Reveals how to mine the Internet to measure and forecast business progress -Written by leading expert in business analytics and performance management Pulse reveals how the Internet is evolving into a tool for measuring and forecasting trends in society, the economy, public opinion and even public health and security. It is an absolutely essential book for every business leader to turn a powerful, underutilized tool to its complete potential The ultimate guide to mining the Internet for real-time assessment of trends and data Showing how the Internet can be an incredible tool for businesses and others to measure trends in real time, Pulse describes tools for inexpensive and real time measurement methodologies businesses can start using right away. This timely book also puts this emerging science in perspective and explains how this new measurement instrument will profoundly change decision making in business and government. Shows how the Internet can be used as an incredibly powerful measurement tool Reveals how to mine the Internet to measure and forecast business progress Written by leading expert in business analytics and performance management Pulse reveals how the Internet is evolving into a tool for measuring and forecasting trends in society, the economy, public opinion and even public health and security. It is an absolutely essential book for every business leader to turn a powerful, underutilized tool to its complete potential. Pt. 1. Introduction to the pulse: a new kind of instrument -- pt. 2. Sources of the pulse -- pt. 3. Effects of the pulse.;This book introduces how the Internet can be used to assess market trends and public opinion before the slower and far more expensive, traditional government reports and Gallup polls are published. It talks about how to take this raw data and validate it using some traditional methods without relying on them entirely in the future. It will discuss how this will eventually effect business and government in a much broader sense. The book describes how most major decisions are made on information that was actually available quite a long time prior to the beginning of the analysis of the decision, nevermind the decision itself. But real-time information about socio-economic trends and public opinion will allow for a kind of "programmed trading" for some decisions similar to how trading firms automate buying and selling.