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Google Analytics Advanced Segments

03 Nov

I just wanted to put up a few examples of how I am using Google Analytics Advanced Segment creator. I will be following up with more articles on how to do more cool things with Advanced Segments, Custom Reports, Intelligence Alerts, and even some of the Google API calls.

Here is a great way to create a Advanced Segment to see how much traffic you’re getting from your social media sites such as Twitter.com, Digg.com etc etc etc.

Social Media Advanced Segment

  1. Go to Advanced Segments on the left column.
  2. Click ‘Create new custom segment’
  3. Under Dimensions find Source, drag it over to where it says Dimensions or Metrics
  4. Then you will see Condition, select ‘Matches Regular Expression’
  5. Here you list your social networks as a regular expression. Here is what I have: facebook\.com|twitter\.com|flickr\.com|youtube\.com|digg\.com
    |bx\.businessweek\.com|delicious\.com|stumbleupon\.com
  6. At the bottom give it a name.
  7. Now you can test it to see if it works, once thats done hit ‘Create Segment’

GissiSim Creating Advanced Segment for Social Media

Please know that you can click on the images to get a their full size counterpart.

Then we go and put it into action in the Dashboard. Here I will just show you a picture how how you do it. Pretty self explanatory.

Click for larger image

Like I said this is just the start. I will be writing more articles with more intense use of these new features. I just wanted to give a quick simple example to get you’re ideas popping. There are of course some more ways I use this, to see what News Sources are linking to my webpage. So maybe cnn\.com|bbc\.co\.uk etc etc.

As you can see there are endless possibilities, and these are the tools that the company I work for ( Skyrr ) uses to help our clients archive the goal for their Web Site.

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Posted in Howto, Labs

 

GissiSim as a little boy

13 Oct

This is the picture that I'm using as my profile picture. Probably one of my all time favoreds… of myself. Now I feel like an idiot =P But wanted to put this picture up and test out the e-mail side of posterous!

Posted via email from GissiSim – Gissur Simonarson

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Posted in Personal

 

GissiSim and Tami. It’s a Baby Boy

13 Oct

So it’s official. My beautiful wife and I just found out today, (yesterday if you want to be technical about it), that we will be the proud parents of a baby boy =)

I just wanted everyone that reads my blog to know that I’m finally coming back after being away for a long time. I know, I know! My first article after my long absence will be a new updated version on how to TweetDeck or Tweet Deck like a Pro #2. Since there have been so so so many advancements in Tweet Deck since my last article, it’s only right to write a better, more up to date one.

For now, please take a look at my little “Baby Boy Site” which I have set up at http://me.gissisim.com/ I’m using MobileMe to run this site. Yes I know it’s just a ugly default baby template, however this site was built with my wife Tami in mind. So she can update it with me!

Thank you guys for keeping up with the site even though I’ve been away for so long However, GissiSim is back! (as a Dad)!

20 week sonar side view of our beautiful baby boy!

20 week sonar side view of our beautiful baby boy!

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Posted in Personal, picture

 

Movies I’m Excited About

01 Apr

Here is a quick and dirty list of some of the upcomming movies I’m really looking forward to seeing. Check out the trailers at the end of the links, make sure you watch the trailer and not the clips. Let me know what you think, also tell me if there are some other movies you are excited about!

 

Orphan -
http://www.apple.com/trailers/wb/orphan/

 

The Hang Over -
http://www.apple.com/trailers/wb/thehangover/

 

The Haunting in Connecticut -
http://www.apple.com/trailers/lions_gate/thehauntinginconnecticut/

 

Drag Me To Hell -
http://www.apple.com/trailers/universal/dragmetohell/

 

Sleep Dealer -
http://www.apple.com/trailers/independent/sleepdealer/

 

Tyson -
http://www.apple.com/trailers/sony/tyson/

 

Funny People -
http://www.apple.com/trailers/universal/funnypeople/

 

Fighting -
http://www.apple.com/trailers/universal/fighting/

 

Valentino : The Last Emperor -
http://www.apple.com/trailers/independent/valentinothelastemperor/

 

Sunshine Cleaning -
http://www.apple.com/trailers/independent/sunshinecleaning/

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Posted in Personal

 

Smart Crow

26 Mar

Check out this amazingly smart crow. Shows that these birds use critical thinking to solve problems. Really makes you question what else they can do.

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Posted in Video

 

How Twitter Helps

26 Mar

TwitterTwitter is becoming a part of our every day lives. You can´t watch TV or listen to the radio without it being mentioned. Since more and more people are starting to use the power of Twitter. It´s time to really see what we can use it for.

1. Twitter Helps us watch TV

tvDarren Waters of The BBC dot.life wrote an interesting article about how Twitter has made TV viewing social again.

“Last night I was watching Eurovision with Twitter running on my laptop. In real time, my Twitter friends and I shared comments and made observations about the event as it was happening.

Here we can see how Twitter enhances his experience. Something that might have been a fairly normal or boring viewing has become something special. I´ve seen people watching shows together like Lost and Heroes etc. Try it sometime, you might just like it.

2. Twitter Help us Report

It was quickly realized how powerful Twitter was in this area. Now you can write about a local happening in real time, taking the power out of the big media companies and puts it back in the peoples hands. Many reporters have started to embrace Twitter as a new way of getting to their listeners. News agency are also all over twitter, from CNN to Fox News.

Here is an interesting article about how Reporters use twitter.

3. Twitter Helps us Raise Money

waterOne of the best example of this has been the Charity: Water campaign. There was a huge “Twestival” held in 202 cities around the world. Here Twitter helped spread the message, that people need clean drinking water. So far the project has raised $250,000. Go to Twestival home page for more information.

4. Twitter Helps us Work

I use twitter all the time to help me in my day to day work. If I have a problem with a jQuery function, or sharepoint configuration. I can post my query to my Twitter buddies, most of the time they have helpful information to pass along. I highly recommend you try using it for your benefit in this respect, however be sure to help others in return.

Take a look at this article from the New York Times on how Twitter can help you at work

5. Twitter Helps us Become a Better Writer

writerThis might not be clear at first. However, since Twitter is limiting us to only 140 characters at a time. We really need to work hard on condensing our message, making it clear and concise. This can be great for copywriters to really hone their skills. For an excellent in depth view on how Twitter helps you become a better writer, check out copyblogger.

6. Twitter Helps us Do Presentations

Excellent to use Twitter to make a presentation. Even though it isn´t on Twitter itself, it can help you really get some useful information and sources for your topic. It could actually be a fun thing to actually pose a question on Twitter durring your presentation, and then check back at your replies at the end and see what they give you. Risky sure, but fun.

There is a fun video on how this works.  See the video here.

7. Twitter Helps us Fly

airplane-fall-apartAn excellent article in USA Today, talks about how BWI is using Twitter to let travelers know about their flights, cancelations etc right form Twitter. Now you can get those updates right to your phone, anywhere you are. Very good example that other companies can pick up and run with.

8. Twitter Helps us Get To Know Stars

Twitter has been huge with the Hollywood elite. From Britney Spears to Shaq to Stephen Fry to Demi Moore, there are all kinds of starts and famouse people on there for you to interact with. Most of these starts actually write back to fans (however you need to be really lucky to catch their eye). So you can get to know a Star =)

9. Twitter Helps us Research

Very good tool for advertisers to get a candid glimps into the lives of their clients. You can also do some reference research on Twitter. Take a look at this blog to get more information about this.

10. Twitter Helps us Get A Job

jobwantedYes you can even find a job using Twitter. Actually turns out to be a great place to find a job. Here you can really get into personal contact with companies and people working at companies. You can show your worth by posting useful information and projects you´ve been working on. There are a few sites that actually pick up job listings on Twitter. Take a look at twitterjobsearch.com for some more help.

11. Twitter Helps us Eat

Often when you´re traveling, you aren´t sure where the best places to eat are. Of course here Twitter helps us out a lot. There are people from all over the place on Twitter, so all you have to do is ask “What is your favorid restaurant in BLANK area”. Now sit and wait for some suggestions. For more information take a look at this blog article.

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Posted in Howto, Twitter

 

Interview with James Grierson

26 Mar

I just recently opened up my new domain GissiSim.com. I wasn’t sure where I should be hosted, so I went online and did my research. I came to the conclusion that HostMonster was the choice for me, since I had a small blogg with little traffic, I wanted to pay a fairly low price. I never expected this page to get the kind of hits it did, and never expected HostMonster to sit under the bombardment my blog got when it hit Mashable and Digg on the same day.

However, it stood strong with 15k hitting it in one day. At one point around 5,000 unique IPs hit the server at once. Seeing how well this host withstood this, I wanted to find out more. I asked to interview the man upstairs and got in contact with James Grierson. Decided to ask him some questions for fun, as well as recommend their service!

#1. How long have you been in the business?

- I have personally been working with online media and webhosting since 1998. I have been working with BlueHost since 2007 as the VP of Business Development and Affiliate Management.

#2. What is the difference between Host Monster, Blue Host, Fast Domain?

- The three brands are targeted to different niches within the markets. BlueHost is targeted to small and medium businesses, HostMonster to the enthusiasts like bloggers. FastDomain is our newest plan and is currently focused on more advanced customers who need a little more of everything. Each brand also has different plans and pricing that vary depending on the promotions we are running at any given time.

#3. What kind of setup do you guys use to be able to withstand the digg effect?

- We design the architecture of our own hosting servers rather than deal with the confines of a packaged product. Currently our data centers have twelve 1GB fiber lines going into them. We recently added a large number of solid state drives to the machines in order to help with processing more IO. We run all of our boxes with dual quad core Intel Xeons and 16GB of Ram and only use the fastest HDD’s out there. We have had a number of customers on the front page of Yahoo News, featured on Glenn Beck, found on Digg and other major networks in the past and most of those experiences have worked out just fine. If the customer has the liberty of letting us know ahead of time we can even prep things and make sure they have a little extra just to make sure the experience goes smoothly.

#4. Do you guys have a twitter account? if so what is it?

- Not currently. We actually had a rogue twitter impersonator out there for a while and just recently was able to shut it down for Trademark infringement. Once all is worked out with Twitter we plan to take control of it all.

#5. Do you offer any services for people that want to host on a windows server?

- Sure, we provide over 1000 Linux servers that work! All joking aside, I feel sorry for anyone who has to be on a Windows server. Think of all the headaches, pain, suffering and countless hours admins waste staring at a blue screen. I say skip it and avoid the issue by choosing a better platform to build your web architecture on. So to answer your question, no we do not have any plans to provide Windows solutions in the near future. Maybe if they released a great open source solution we would consider it.

#6. What website´s do you visit the most?

My current list of most visited websites are: www.dailychanges.com, www.slashdot.org, www.slickdeals.net, www.quakelive.com

Thank you James for your time.

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Posted in Web

 

Gone to London!

20 Mar

I’ll be in London for the weekend. So there will not be any blog posts until Tuesday of next week (03/24/09).

CB013123

If you want to get a hold of me, check me out on @GissiSim on Twitter. You can send me a DM or @Reply and I should get it.

See where we are:

View Larger Map

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Posted in Personal

 

Geek out your Twitter

19 Mar

geektool_gros1I’m a big command line geek at heart, so when I discovered GeekTools a few years back I was in love. GeekTools is a OS X application that allows you to run linux commands and display them on your desktop background. Very l33t h4x0r type stuff.

With my love for Twitter burning these days, I really wanted to get a nice twitter feed running in GeekTools on my desktop.  

geektools

Here is how I did it:

Start by downloading this script here (thanks to Mobilitee). Once you have it on your Mac, move it to any directory you want. Open the script in your favored text editor and replace <username> and <password> with your Twitter user name and password.

Next you need to go into terminal and cd to the directory where you saved the script and run chmod +x twitter.sh. Now the script is ready to be run, you can try running it in the command line just to see if it works.

Now you can open up GeekTools which you can download here. Create a new group and call it Twitter. Select the Shell in drop down, and under command tab type in:

echo “Twitter:”; DIRECTORY/TO/SCRIPT/twitter.sh

Of course directory/to/script should be replaced with the directory where you saved twitter.sh in. Next you can go into Colors and Fonts etc and mess around with it. Also change the location to have it pop up where you want it.

If you have any questions, please feel free to leave them in the comments.

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Posted in Howto, Twitter

 

One Firefox plugin to end them all

18 Mar

I’ve been a Firefox user for many years now. Main reason I love this browser so much is because of it’s excellent plugin structure. This is the reason for why I can’t migrate over to Google Chrome, Safari or other’s I like a lot. Now there is another plugin that makes this even harder. It’s called Ubiquity.

How it works

One plugin I have recently found has been a god send, it goes by the name of Ubiquity. It is a lot like quicksilver for the Mac, however being used for the world wide web. A great example of the power this plugin has is it’s translating feature. I’ll be on a website in Spanish, there is a part of the webpage that I really want to read, however I have no idea what it says.

spanish

I simply hit my shortcut for Ubiquity, start typing in translate, don’t really have to finish writing it.

translate

Hit enter, and the same section that had the Spanish words, has now been translated and I can go on my way.

english

Now there are endless things that can be done, like looking up weather by typing weather and the zip code. We can type map and an address to get it mapped out for us, and if in Gmail, we can then paste the image with directions directly into our mail.

map

I am used to having a lot of tabs open. Lets say I have many twitter profiles open and I want to close them all. Simply hit the Ubiquity shortcut, type in close-related-tabs and twitter. All tabs with Twitter in the title are gone. You can also chose which once you want to close with just close-tab. If you have google calendar, you can add appointments by just typing add-to-calendar I’m meeting Paul tomorrow at 3. It actually understands that and adds it to your calendar.

Click here to check out their tutorial.

Click here to download the plugin.

Check out this video for a better idea how it works:

Plugin the Plugin

What makes it so powerful is that you can actually write your own commands for it. One that I’ve found to be very useful is TinyURL. It converts links that I highlight into a TinyURL that I can the post into Twitter. Another plugin a user has written is a link to twitter. So now when I’m browsing and I need to send a quick tweet. Simply type twitter “and my message”. It’s gone straight to my twitter account.

15 Uniquity commands to enhance your web experience – Here you can get the tiny URL command and Twitter command.

Here is a video that teaches you how to make a command for Ubiquity:

Conculsion

It’s easy to see how massively powerful this plugin is. If you have been using it, please write about your favored addon commands in the comments. If you haven’t, write some ideas for useful commands that I could actually write and share with you guys here on my blog.

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Posted in Howto, Web

 
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