Continuing the posts about social media analytics, the focus of this one is Google Analytics (which people use for analyzing web traffic to their website) and the tool a Greasemonkey (a Firefox plug in) extension: "social media metrics" (That is a screen shot of it above). It works as an additional layer to give social media information to Google Analytics. It provides information on other social media sites such as Digg, Stumbleupon, Sphinn, and Delicious plus more for each individual page.

If you look at the screen shot you will notice that the traditional Google Analytics information listed on top; the lower portion is the social media metrics plugin. Primarily, it measures the major social bookmarking sites listed in this post, plus backlinks via Yahoo.

As you can see it is not a complex analysis of social media, BUT it is an improvement over what was available in the past...."nothing". It is quick and easy to use, plus "again" if you use a Firefox browser, it will work as a plug-in seamlessly.

All social media analytics at this point in time are in their infancy and therefore the data supplied may provide more of an overview rather than any in-depth information. I'd say a little information is better than throwing darts in the dark!