Social media is a portal through which we view the world, and this draws out a rich set of data from our daily lives. Platforms are acutely aware of this data and have built their businesses around analysing it. Even our own personal social media accounts are based on data metrics, from the number of replies we get to the reach of our posts, and much much more.

In our own hands, this data can be helpful. Our own members in the Content Creator community, for instance, can use it to plan their content strategies or to celebrate their milestones.  Platforms use data gathered from their users in a similar way, but it’s different when it’s a third party doing the gathering, and there’s a sticky and necessary debate around what data they gather and how they use it.

One aspect of that debate is less often discussed, and that’s how said data is analysed and presented. There may be differences between platforms in the metrics they value, or the method of their analysis. One thing we’re interested in, both for our platform and for our members, is which data actually matter, and which are simply vanity metrics?  What just looks good and what do you feel is actually helpful and meaningful?

Let us know in the comments!