Search Tips and Tricks

Search Tips: Here are some best practices to help you build quality conversation queries

In order to get the most out of BuzzLogic, an important first step is to create effective conversation queries. The queries you enter define the content BuzzLogic surfaces in order to calculate influence across that set of content. The Preview screen allows you to view sample content to make sure your conversation query is on track. Once you are comfortable with the sample content, then you can generate your influencer list.

Creating Conversation Queries:

Creating conversation queries is easy. All of us are familiar with using search engines to find things on the Internet. BuzzLogic uses search technologies to surface "Conversations", which means we identify Web pages that are talking about the same thing and are connected via links. The following fields can be used to hone in on the conversations you would like to surface and monitor.

All These Words: Enter keywords in this field that you would like all of the words to appear in the conversation, regardless of their order.
Any of These Words: Enter keywords in this field that you want at least one of the words appear in the conversation.
None of These Words: Enter keywords in this field that you donÕt want to appear in the conversation.
This Phrase: Enter a set of keywords, in exact order, that you would like to appear in the conversation.

General Conversation Monitoring:

To set up a general Conversation that monitors a theme or category you are interested in, simply enter the word that best describes the theme/category, or the phrase that best describes the theme/category.

Example:
I am interested in the Mobile Device Market.

Enter the following into your search:
This Phrase: Mobile Device

Boolean Equivalent:
"Mobile Device"

This produces results that talk about all different areas of the Mobile Device market and also picks up on companies that are beginning to offer services related to mobile devices.

Monitoring Certain Keywords Within a General Conversation:

Answer these two questions to help you build a search query that listens to certain items within a General Conversation.

What general topic or conversation do I want to listen to and learn more about?
What sort of results am I looking for to gain the kind of information that I want?

The answer to questions #1 should be entered into the "All These Words" field or if it contains more than one word, enter it into the "This Phrase" field in the Conversation Creation window. The answers to question #2 should be entered into the "Any of These Words" field.

With this practice you are telling our system that you would like all the results to be talking about this general topic and more specifically, the results that use "any of these words" are most valuable to you. The system will ensure that your results contain one of these keywords.

Example:
I am interested in Cell Phone Interfaces in general.

I am interested in hearing about what is coming out next. The types of things an ideal post would be talking about would be innovations, announcements, new releases, and new products.

Enter the following into your search:
All These Words: cell phone interface
Any of These Words: innovations announces product release new

Boolean Equivalent:
cell AND phone AND interface AND (innovations OR announces OR product OR release OR new)

Note: You will notice the word "announces" was used rather than "announcement". This is because we are searching for the types of words that are most likely to appear in blog posts. A post is more likely to say "Nokia announces. . ." rather than "Nokia makes an announcementÉ"

Diving In A Bit Deeper:

Answer the following questions to get more specific about a particular issue you may want to search about.

What issue concerns me?
What element of this issue is a flag for me?

Example:
I am interested in hearing what bloggers are saying about the iPhone

I want to surface any conversations around the Cisco situation

Enter the following your search:
All These Words: iPhone Cisco
Any of These Words: name trademark legal battle sues settle

Boolean Equivalent:
iPhone AND Cisco AND (name OR trademark OR legal OR battle OR sues OR settle)

This search produces results that all mention both iPhone and Cisco and at least one of the words within the parentheses.

Using Boolean Operators in the Expert Mode:

The expert search field recognizes the following operators. Note: Boolean operators must be in UPPERCASE.

Symbol	Example	Explanation>
AND	social AND media	Search results have the word social AND the word media in them
OR	social OR media	Search results have the word social OR the word media in them, but a higher relevance score is given to results that have both words.
AND NOT	Google AND NOT Yahoo	Search results have google but do not have yahoo.
"Quotes"	"apple iPod" OR shuffle	Search results have the phrase "apple iphone" in them OR they have the word shuffle, but a higher relevance score is given to results that have both.
(Parentheses)	(iPod OR Zune) AND NOT (iPod AND Zune)	Search results have ipod or zune but not both.
A few more examples
	mobile OR cell AND phone	Search results have cell AND phone but they may or may not have mobile. A higher relevance score is given to results that have all three.
	"cell phone" AND (interface OR "user interface") AND (best OR easy OR great)	Search results have the phrase "cell phone" AND at least one mention of interface OR "user interface" AND at least one mention of best OR easy OR great. A higher relevance score is given to words that have most of the results.
	cell phone OR mobile	Search results have the two words cell and phone OR search results have the word mobile, but a higher relevance score is given to results that have all three words. The two words cell and phone are both required in the results because they are placed together on the left side of the operator, OR.
Tip/Trick
title:	title: "social media" AND influence	Search results have the phrase "social media" in their title AND the word influence.