MEEK SCHOOL STUDENTS By Cynthia Joyce
“B
ig Data”: It’s a buzzword as much as it is a technical term, one that — much like “multimedia” — gets tossed around frequently, despite the fact that few people agree on its precise meaning. And yet, there’s a growing awareness that being able to harness the power of Big Data is critical to success in any modern media or marketing environment. Last fall, the Meek School’s integrated marketing communications program director, Scott Fiene, invited representatives from two of the world’s top social media networks — Facebook and LinkedIn — to talk to students about the importance of data in the communications field today and how it’s used to build and retain customer relationships. Speaking before a full house at the Overby Center for the first Ole Miss New Media Data Day, Sean Callahan, senior manager of content marketing at LinkedIn, and Eric Schnabel, North America director of Facebook Creative Shop, provided their perspective and insights into current trends and opportunities within the industry. “It was quite a coup for us to have folks of that caliber here, sharing with us what exactly they do,” Fiene said. “There’s a whole side to marketing that’s all about the analytics and data. And while ours is a creative program, we no longer live in a world where you’re on one side or the other — it’s all the same side.” Following the event, Callahan and Schnabel were interviewed via email: How do you define Big Data, in simple terms? SC: There are many definitions of Big Data. Narrowly defined, Big Data is using powerful software to analyze — in the blink of an
10 MEEK SCHOOL
eye — huge sets of unstructured data, such as meteorological data, surveillance camera video, a company’s emails, or healthcare data, to name just a few examples. I personally prefer a broader definition of Big Data. Think about the proliferation of computers today. As processing speeds have grown faster and storage costs have become lower, computers have become incredibly powerful. It’s the stuff of science fiction. These computers, as well as the smartphones that all of us carry around in our pockets, throw off so much data that more than 90 percent of the data in existence has been created in the past two years. With that in mind, Big Data is the network of computers, mobile phones, and a host of other digital devices that create streams of data that businesses can analyze to find actionable insights. Those insights can be as simple as identifying the demographics of the people visiting your website, which can have powerful implications to a company. ES: We don’t really use that term, but I guess I’d define it as data that allows companies and organizations to make their services or ads more personally relevant. At Facebook, we spend a lot of time thinking about how we can use the things people like to drive the relevance of a person’s experience on our platforms. On Facebook, if we show you more posts
from people and companies you care about most, you’ll enjoy the experience more and spend more time. People use Instagram to explore their passions. Whether you’re into SEC football or Russian architecture, the more we help you discover what you love, the more you’ll be inspired to spend more time. For a young media professional entering the workforce today, what are some of the most exciting prospects made possible by Big Data? SC: Big Data is changing how many occupations are done on a day-to-day basis, and the media is not escaping the impact. On one level, journalists will have access to incredible amounts of data that can help them tell stories. For instance, a financial reporter has easy access to the financial filings of the businesses they cover and can use software to analyze trends much faster than they could in the past. This kind of data analysis can lead to stories full of insights that were basically unattainable before. On another level, journalists writing for a website will have almost instantaneous access to data on how many people are reading their stories, what characteristics define those readers, how they arrived at the story, and what actions they took because of it. Having access to this kind of information can be intimidating, but the most effective reporters will take advantage of it to understand
Big Data is changing how many occupations are done on a dayto-day basis, and the media is not escaping the impact.”
