Social Media and Big Data, Part 1: What is it?

During the month of October we are exploring the relationship between “big data” and social media. Follow our journey and visit us at Oracle’s OpenWorld on October 25th-29th in San Francisco.

The term “big data” has been around for awhile, but it’s still a difficult concept to wrap your brain around. Today, we’re starting with the basics: what exactly does “big data” mean?

What it is:

“Big Data” is a catch-all term for the digital breadcrumbs you leave behind as you go about your daily life. It is comprised of structured and unstructured data. Businesses use this information to understand their customers better. However, it is by definition a difficult and unwieldy conglomerate of information.

Structured data: This data was gathered from a data model and lives in relational databases and spreadsheets. For example, let’s say I want to buy a pair of shoes. When I fill out the form online, I enter my name, gender, and zip code. That information goes into a database that is easily sorted by these data points.

Unstructured data: Less easily sorted information falls into this category. For example, online customer service chats, reviews, phone transcripts, and surveys all contain unstructured data. Oracle Data Cloud can capture this information and sort it into useful insights for brands.

What it isn’t:

Fully integrated: Think about it- every keystroke you make, every article you read, every store you visit IRL, basically everything you do - is a data point. It’s tough to make all of those points come together in a harmonious way. When you factor in privacy and legal regulations, it becomes even more complicated.

How big are we talking?

Big data is huge. You know those spreadsheets that we love so much? Imagine spreadsheets of spreadsheets of spreadsheets. According to webopedia.com, big data can be measured in petabytes (1,024 terabytes) or exabytes (1,024 petabytes), which amounts to billions or trillions of records. Enterprise data is expected to grow 800% in the next five years, 80% of which will be unstructured data.

As you can see, this topic is difficult to wrap your arms around. We’ll spend the next month discussing what big data means to social media marketers. Got a question? Ask us in the comments below!