Sessions at SXSW Interactive 2012 about Analytics on Saturday 10th March

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• I Used Data Analytics to Game Online Dating

  by Amy Webb

  I was tired of terrible first dates. When I decided to try online dating, I wasn’t going to let my profile mugshot and a few lines about me decide my fate. Instead, I did what any enterprising young woman in my position would do: I gamed the system! I created a series of male user profiles, registered a bunch of accounts and logged in as men. For weeks, I studied all the women using that service and collected data on the ones who seemed most popular.

  I eventually compiled everything into a deep data analysis. Then, I logged back into the service...this time as a woman...and created a profile using my own information, but skewed to the trends I uncovered. Within a week I had the most popular profile on the service. Two months later I was dating the person who would later become my husband.

  What I learned: Most people don't understand their audiences. In this session, I’ll detail how I gamed online dating...and what that means for anyone trying to land a committed relationship with their users.

  • Analytics
  • Online Dating

  At 9:30am to 10:30am, Saturday 10th March

  In Driskill Ballroom, Driskill Hotel

• How Your Data Can Predict the Future

  by Becky Wang

  Today, we have data – lots of it. We can process information – in many ways. We have models to understand our process. With these tools and a dash of creativity, we are discovering surprising patterns of human behavior and by extension, a way to accurately predict our desires and our future. In fact, we can quantify movements, behaviors, desires, and moods on a scale that wasn’t possible before a series of advances in processing power, developments in psychology, the science of social networks and collaboration, and most importantly, access to data. As we have evolved from Web 1.0 to 4.0 – in this anticipatory era – what will we dream up next? Beyond addressability and ad relevance, marketing initiatives and product development, how else can businesses utilize these advances? In advertising, industry, & humanity, can we make the leap from inductive logic to intuition? Can we supplement our brain mechanics with these new tools to finally predict what makes us happy?

  • Analytics
  • Behaviour
  • Big Data
  • Data
  • Psychology

  At 11:00am to 12:00pm, Saturday 10th March

  In Capital Ballroom B, InterContinental Stephen F. Austin

  Coverage slide deck audio clip

• Rise of Analytics: Impacting the Editorial Process?

  by Chris Reynolds and Jacob Young

  The rapid proliferation of choices at the readers' fingertips for accessing content has made the editor's job more complicated than ever. Behavioral analytics will uncover when readers want what content, where they are when they want it, and if they want it on their phones, tablets, or PCs. Understanding user behavior across these platforms will not only guide the editor on how to deliver digital and mobile content but also offer new insights on how to deliver traditional, offline content to improve the readers' overall experience with the brand.

  • Analytics
  • Content Strategy

  At 12:30pm to 1:30pm, Saturday 10th March

  In Capitol E-H, Sheraton Austin Hotel at the Capitol

  Coverage audio clip

• LEAN STARTUP: Check Yo-Self Before U Wreck Yo-Self, Startup Metrics of the Masters

  by Aaron Batalion, Dharmesh Shah, Joe Zadeh, Thomas Korte and Zach Nies

  Startup Case Studies' from Airbnb, LivingSocial, HubSpot, & Rally Software on measuring success including lessons learned with pivots, metrics, and growth.

  • Agile
  • Analytics
  • Lean Startups
  • Process
  • Product Management
  • Startups

  At 2:00pm to 3:00pm, Saturday 10th March

  In Salon C, Hilton Austin Downtown

  Coverage slide deck