Over the last 18 months there has been a huge influx of enterprises becoming actively involved online in an attempt to boost the performance of their organisation. Networking approaches can differ from person to person and from organisation to organisation, while naturally results can also vary.

One of the big reasons that some succeed while others fail is because of analytic analysis. Every business knows that for something to succeed you need to know how you are performing and how to better yourself, yet when it comes to social networking many never follow through with this vital requirement.

A major factor that contributes to the lack of social media analysis by organisations is a lack of understanding. People may understand how social media functions, yet not know how to analyse their performance on them. This can be attributed to a new and often complex analyses methodology when it comes to social media. Are you active on a lot of networks? How much exposure does social media bring to your business? How long do you spend online? These are all questions that organisations should be asking themselves if they are to successfully analyses their online efforts.

To help organisations monitor and analyses their social media campaigns Loopthing have launched a new application called OpenScore.

OpenScore is an application that will assist you in your web analytics by presenting you with a detailed breakdown of how your business brand is performing online.

The technology works by analyzing a number of factors and data from some of the most relevant social media sources across the web such as Facebook, Twitter, RSS, Google, Digg, StumpleUpon, Blogs, Media files (video, audio, imagery) to name but a few. Specifically factors such as activity rate/presence on Internet ; time; level of visibility to others; the amount of media files they upload; the amount of information they provide about themselves and the amount of people talking about them on the Internet are some of the most important factors analyzed. Each factor carries its own weight in order to provide a comprehensive analysis of online activity.

Not only will OpenScore show you how you have been doing on the social web, it will also suggest to you where you should be going. Customized advice and detailed statistics will be available to all members that avail of OpenScore that will point you in the direction of a successful marketing campaign online.

Social media analytics is an up-and-coming area within the social media world.  As consumers move online at an ever increasing pace, organisations need to join them if they are to succeed in an ever changing marketing place. Only by knowing where you’re currently placed can you know where you need to go.

A new study by Robert Half Technology has found that many businesses are actively creating work policies in relation to the growing presence of online networking in their employees lives, yet the majority aren’t reacting positively!

The study, which was based on telephone interviews with more than 1,400 CEO’s across the US, has revealed that just over half of those asked have policies that completely ban their workforce from accessing sites such as Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, LinkedIn and Loopthing.

• Prohibited completely   -   54%
• Permitted for business purposes only   -   19%
• Permitted for limited personal use   -   16%
• Permitted for any type of personal use   -   10%
• Don’t know/no answer   -   1%

The reasons cited by those on the majority side indicate that most tend to see social networks as a distraction, something that diverts their employees attention away from more pressing and important matters.

The study also reveals that nearly 1/5 of businesses believe that social networking can be a positive thing, but only for work purposes.

It’s not hard to see what the majority of organisations are not allowing employees engage online. Social networking sites are pretty secure on the technical side of things, but  it’s the people who use them that are a cause for concern within an organisation. Productivity, viruses, phishing, bandwidth usage, the disclosure of private information and brand damage are just some of the points that a company would think about when choosing to either allow access or implement a social media ban.

Software such as WebSense can be used to monitor web activity, so remember the next time you’re dying to update you’re online status, check first whether you’re company allows you to do so or you could end up in hot water. Or just use your iPhone!

On April 7th of this year we launched the site in beta mode which allowed us to show what we’d developed to the world at large, while still working on features in the background. There’s been some ups and downs but now I’m glad to say that we are planning an Official Launch on October 20th. It’s an exciting milestone!

The official launch of the site will be accompanied by Loopthing’s first business application. I’ve mentioned these applications in passing to a number of people over the previous months and October 20th the first of these will be revealed. The business applications are something which I believe will really catch the imagination of many businesses and be of great benifit!

As well as the hustle and bustle that comes with preparing with for such an event, we are also holding out first seed funding round. It’s that time of the game where we are happy enough with how things are progressing that we are looking for some extra capital for the company. Such seed funding will give the project that extra push. You can see more about this over on the Loopthing blog.

Keep your ear to the ground for some more announcements over the coming weeks.