Is Real Time Analytics the Future?

Tracking and measuring website traffic is crucial. It's one of the only ways you can truly know how successful your website is as well as what's working and what's not. Nowadays, however, data moves faster and faster. Many of the analytics software options out there are now offering real-time data to keep up. This kind of information lets you know what's happening on your site right in that moment. It gives you material that can help you boost your traffic immediately. The web can pick up any trend or story at a moment's notice. Real-time data can give you that edge needed to fuel a story into a viral one.

In a recent Mashable article, Lauren Drell interviews Chartbeat's CEO. Chartbeat is a real-time analytics tool that is unique from all other analytical software. Mr. Haile, the CEO, believes that data has a new use case than it has traditionally in the past. He believes that now quick, tactical news is needed in response to feedback from a company's environment instead of just monitoring trends over time. This explains Chartbeat's design and makeup. Instead of waiting for different pages to load per certain information, Chartbeat gets pings every couple of seconds. The information is comparable to a man watching a game from inside the stadium and knowing how many people are at the game rather than a man standing outside counting the attendees at the entrance.

Because the social web is increasingly rising, real-time data is probably more useful than ever. Companies must be ready to adapt to swiftly changing environments. They must be ready to adjust quicker than ever. Traffic was more easily controlled before social media swept the Internet, but now it is less controllable. With real-time analytics, businesses might be able to gain better insights into the rapidly paced social web. Chartbeat may be a solution.

To read Lauren's full interview with Haile as well as further information about Chartbeat and real-time data, click here.