clearspring - the widget network.

Welcome to the Analytics & Reporting Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ), a quick rundown on some key things.  If you've got suggestions or requests for things to add, let us know in the forums.

General Topics

• What does "Source unknown" mean in my reports?
• What does "Rest of destinations" mean in my reports?
• What does "Desktop Platform Type Unknown" mean in my reports?
  
• Why are there domains listed in the Views report that are not listed in the Active Installs report?
  
• What is a viral hub?
• What is a seed install?
• Why are there more New Installs than Grabs?
  
• How does the data collection frequency setting work?
• Is there a limit to the number of custom events that can be defined?
• Which reports include desktop activity?
• How can I gain access for the Reporting API?
• Are there ways that a widget can spread without a visitor viewing one of the Clearspring sharing menus?

 

General Topics

What does "Source unknown" mean in my reports?

"Source unknown" is the entry in the list of Source Domains where widget metrics are aggregated when the domain from which the widget is being grabbed is unknown. There are three reasons why the source may be unknown.

1. The browser settings for the unique visitor who is viewing the web page does not allow the referrer (domain) information to be transmitted with the request.
2. The request is passing through a corporate firewall that is blocking the referrer information from being transmitted with the request.
3. The request is passing through a personal firewall that is blocking the referrer information from being transmitted with the request.

In each of these cases, the lack of referrer data does not allow us to categorize the data by Source Domain. As such, we are aggregating these metrics as "Source unknown" so that they may be included in reporting and counted in the overall data reported.

What does "Rest of destinations" mean in my reports?

"Rest of destinations" is the entry in the list of domains where widget metrics are aggregated when the domains in which the widget is being served to is not in the top 20 list.  Many of the reports on Clearspring group your data by domain for the top 20 domains.  In order to show totals in your reports and display the remaining data or "tail", we use this entry to group the remaining data.

 

What does Desktop Platform Type Unknown mean in my reports?

"Desktop Platform Type Unknown" is the entry in the list of domains where widget metrics are aggregated when the Desktop Platform Type is not available for a desktop install.  The source is deemed "unknown" when the browser making the request to load the widget on the desktop does not transmit the Operating System of the user's machine.

 

Why are there domains listed in the Views report that are not listed in the Active Installs report?

The Views report displays every domain where your widget has been viewed whereas the Active Installs report displays every domain where your widget has been installd. 

So what is the difference? When analyzing installs, we look at the number of placement IDs (the unique identifer assigned to a widget install) that are viewed grouped by domain and Desktop Platform. When a placement ID is generated, it is associated with the first domain where it is viewed or Desktop Platform Type to which is is installed.  However, it is possible for visitors to view an install on another domain. There are two scenarios where this can happen:

1.  A visitor attempting to view a site like MySpace that is blocked by their corporate firewall.  The visitor could reach MySpace through a site proxy that allows them to see MySpace, but proxied through a different domain.  In this scenario, the  Views report would display one view to the site proxy, but no installs to the site proxy. 
2. A visitor views an install of a widget on blogspot.com.  The visitor then copies and pastes the embed code of the widget from blogspot.com to mywebpage.com. Because a new placement ID from Clearspring is not created, we do not know that it is a new install. In this scenario, blogspot.com could show up in both reports whereas mywebpage.com would only show up in the Views report.

 

What is a Viral Hub?

The Viral Hubs report is the name of the Clearspring Analytics report that displays the number of Grabs by domain from which the widget was spread. Colloquially referred to as a "viral hub", the Grab metric in this report is simply a count of the installs created from a domain grouped by the domain in which it originated.

For example, a visitor views a widget on Myspace.com and "grabs" the widget for their Facebook page. The analytical analysis of this scenario would be as follows:

1. The domain Myspace.com has widget on a page that is an install.
2. A visitor may grab the widget on Myspace;.com and share the widget to their profile page on Facebook.com.  This is now a new install on Facebook.com
   
3. The domain Myspace.com is now considered a Source Domain with one install generated to Facebook.com.

 

What is a Seed Install?

A seed install is a physical location of a widget on a web page where the embed code to place the widget on the page was not generated from another install. Seed installs are important because they are the starting points for spreading your widget. Widgets should be seeded on web pages where the widget has relevancy to the content of the page or to the audience viewing the widget.

 

Why are there more New Installs than Grabs?

The number of New Installs displayed for your widget in the New Installs report will always be higher than the number of Grabs displayed in the Viral Hubs report.  This is because not all installs are created from being "Grabbed".  Seed installs do not have a Source Domain associated with them, but are original embed code grabbed from the Clearspring console.

 

How does the Analytics Data Collection Frequency work?

The analytics settings feature allows you to control the amount of data collection that is gathered by the Clearspring container for each widget view.  The purpose of the setting is to allow you to set the granularity of reporting that you require for the widget while managing the user experience. Clearspring widgets  by default are set to  "Medium" data collection frequency.

What kind of data is collected?

The Clearspring tracking feature gathers the widget views, first mouseover, the number of clicks, events by event type (if you are utilizing the Clearspring Tracking API) and time spent.

When should you choose High, Medium or Low?

The High analytics setting will allow you to track all of the interactions in your widget with the most precision. This setting sends tracking data back to Clearspring every 5 seconds if the user has interacted with the widget and every 30 seconds if no interaction has taken place. There are considerations to be weighed when choosing this option.  The  frequency and amount of data being sent back to Clearspring for analytics and reporting may degrade user experience. Please reference our note below regarding game widgets.

The Medium analytics (the default) setting will allow you to track the first mouseover and first click when they occur.  It will also batch and send all interactions with your widget on 30 second intervals regardless of the number of times that a visitor has interacted with a widget during that time frame. In some operating system / browser combinations, we will check and send data at various time frames to avoid loss of data to support interaction analytics.

The Low analytics setting will allow you to track the minimal amount of interaction with your widget.  The widget view data will be sent upon load of the widget, but all other interactions with the widget will be batched and sent upon sharing the widget or viewing another Clearspring widget within 60 minutes. Depending on how often your widget is shared and the frequency of views to the widget, you may only   gather a sample of the interaction analytics possible for your widget.  

For game widgets or widgets that enable a large volume of clicks and interactions in a short period of time (seconds or less between clicks), we recommend that you set your analytics setting to “Medium” or “Low”.

Is there a limit to the number of Custom Events that can be defined?

Clearspring allows you to define up to 50 custom event keys for display in the Custom Events report.  Keep in mind that each key can have an unlimited number of values associated with it.  So if you define a custom event key entitled "Game Level", you may have up to 50 "Game Level" values associated with that custom event key.

 

Which reports include desktop activity?

The Clearspring Analytics console includes desktop activity in the Viral Hubs, New Installs, Active Installs, Desktop, Clickthroughs and Custom Events reports.  The Summary report also includes desktop activity as it relates to Installs.  For in-depth reporting on your desktop widget activity, please reference the Desktop report.

 

How can I gain access to the Reporting API?

Clearspring's Reporting API allows systematic access to analytics for your widget.  To request access to the Reporting API, please send an email to justin@clearspring.com.