Talk given at #IWMW16 Watch the recording at https://youtu.be/dr1cpjWKY0Q?t=5h5m24s The majority of websites are using Google Analytics for tracking and reporting (W3Techs report 82.9% of tracked sites are using Google Analytics). Since launching Google Analytics in November 2005 the Internet has radically changed moving away from static content to fully interactive web applications. Google have addressed this with the integration of event tracking and other collection techniques, including deployment within mobile apps. As Google Analytics continues to evolve there are a number of features and use cases you might not be aware of. This presentation is designed to highlight some of the emerging Google Analytics hacks which will hopefully inspire you to look at your analytics problems and opportunities in new ways. For example, we look at how Google Analytics can be used as part of the Internet of Things, using low cost computing like Raspberry Pis for recording and analysing everything from sensor data to physical switches. We also look at bridging offline and asynchronous tracking sending measurement data in batches when connectivity is re-established as well as pushing data from third party APIs into Google Analytics using free tools.

1. The Google Analytics
of Things
+Martin Hawksey
@mhawksey
Slides http://go.alt.ac.uk/IWMW16-P9#IWMW16 #P9

2. +Martin Hawksey
hawksey.info
@mhawksey Slides http://go.alt.ac.uk/IWMW16-P9#IWMW16 #P9

4. Overview

5. Beyond page views...
Tim Berners-Lee in his office at the MIT, 1998.
Photograph: Elise Amendola/AP

6. Tracking used to be easy
Slide Credit: Nico Miceli nicomiceli.com

7. But the current web is a lot better… and cooler!
Image Credit: Unknown http://imgur.
com/8b8uYz6
Slide Credit: Nico Miceli nicomiceli.com

8. Pageviews just don’t cut it anymore
1 page view 1 page view 1 page view
Slide Credit: Nico Miceli nicomiceli.com

9. But tracking got more advanced
CC-BY David Bleasdale
https://flic.kr/p/mGimv

11. Understanding Engagement

12. Event Tracking - the James Bond of tracking
Clean, elegant, easy to use
Customizable to handle anything
Photo Credit: © 20th Century
Fox Home Video/MGM/UA
Slide Credit: Nico Miceli nicomiceli.com

13. Event Tracking
Event tracking is a piece of code with custom values that
you fire off when you want to track something
ga('send',
'event', // Required: type of tracking
'category', // Required: Category of event
'action', // Required: Action of event
'label', //optional value
value); //optional number
ga('send','event','category','action','label',value);
Slide Credit: Nico Miceli nicomiceli.com

14. <button id="b1">Hello World</button>
<script type="text/javascript">
$('#b1').click(function(event) {
ga('send','event','button','click','hello world',1);
});
</script>
Event Tracking
Track clicks on the button
HTML/jQuery
Slide Credit: Nico Miceli nicomiceli.com

15. Warning: “Google Analytics does not allow
Personally Identifiable Information (PII) (such
as names, email addresses) stored in the
Application. Your Analytics account could be
terminated if you use any of this information”
NO PERSONALLY IDENTIFIABLE INFORMATION
Slide Credit: Nico Miceli nicomiceli.com

16. “If your site has its own authentication system, you
can use the User ID feature, in addition to the
client ID, to more accurately identify a user across
all the devices they use to access your site.”
… BUT
// At a later time, once the `userId` value is known,
// sets the value on the tracker.
ga('set', 'userId', USER_ID);
JavaScript

17. ga('send','event','EMD101_Mod1_BSN101_1.1_Q3',
'multichoice-selection','21',5); Slide Credit: Nico Miceli nicomiceli.com

18. Google Analytics Event Tracking MCQs

20. … NOT USING GOOGLE TAGS MANAGER

21. Track clicks on the button with
Google Tag Manager
<button id="b1">Hello World</button>

22. Measurement Protocol

23. Lets interface … {API}
Image credit: CC-BY-NC nikki

24. The measurement protocol lets you send event/hits data to
Google Analytics via HTTP Requests:
https://www.google-analytics.com/collect
Name Parameter Example Description
Protocol Version v v=1 The protocol version.
The value should be 1.
Tracking ID tid tid=UA-123456-1 The ID that
distinguishes to which
Google Analytics
property to send data.
Client ID cid cid=xxxxx An ID unique to a
particular user.
Hit Type t t=pageview The type of interaction
collected for a particular
user.
Slide Credit: Nico Miceli nicomiceli.com

25. Kiosks
Smart TV
Apps
Point
of Sale
Devices
Web
Connected
Devices
Backend
Applications
Slide Credit: Nico Miceli nicomiceli.com

26. No tracking, no problem...

27. VLE
Script
Google
Analytics
Web View
• Runs every 15 min
• Identity stripped
• Text processing producing counts
Interacting with 3rd party APIs
https://mashe.hawksey.info/?p=17088

29. Parameter Value Type Default Value Max Length Supported Hit Types
qt integer None None all
Image Credit: CC-BY-SA per Corell
https://flic.kr/p/7BYwFa
Queue Time
Used to collect offline / latent hits

30. Image Credit: CC-BY Mikael Leppä
https://flic.kr/p/pdkyS3
Batch
Send multiple hits in a single request
● A maximum of 20 hits can be specified per request.
● The total size of all hit payloads cannot be greater than 16K bytes.
● No single hit payload can be greater than 8K bytes.

31. Instrumentation...

33. INSTRUMENTATION WITH ANALYTICS
Presented by Bruce Mcpherson at DevFest London 2014
https://goo.gl/lG5oC0

34. The Analytics of Things...

35. Track anything...Slide Credit: Nico Miceli nicomiceli.com

36. Google Analytics Sleep TrackerSlide Credit: Nico Miceli nicomiceli.com

37. Other Google Analytics APIs

39. Google Analytics Add-on for Google Sheets

40. Google Analytics superProxy and Google Analytics Data Bridge
https://developers.google.com/analytics/solutions/google-analytics-super-proxy

42. Summary

43. Experiment
CC-BY-ND https://flic.kr/p/dtZF7K
Slide Credit: Nico Miceli nicomiceli.com

44. Hopefully, you now know
a little more what is
possible
Image credit: CC-BY-NC-ND
Joe Foley https://flic.kr/p/Drgv6
Slide Credit: Nico Miceli nicomiceli.com

45. Image credit: timmacpherson.com
Now it’s time to get
creative!
Rethink the interactions
and engagement
Ask questions
Slide Credit: Nico Miceli nicomiceli.com

46. Questions?
+Martin Hawksey
@mhawksey

47. Thank you!
+Nico Miceli
@NicoMiceli
For slides and inspiration...