What's in this guide?
- What's the interest tab
- How's it calculated
- Example of use
- Interest tab navigation
- Recent visualization change
- Upcoming additional features
What is the Interests tab
The Interests tab presents our proprietary metric designed to provide insights into relevant interest categories within a specific audience. This graph offers quantitative interpretation, showcasing the weight of various interest categories within either a segment or the full audience. By comparing against a baseline, you can pinpoint the most pertinent insights for your audience.
How is it calculated
Audiense determines the interests of an audience by amalgamating two primary signals: user-generated posts and followed content/accounts on X. These signals are clustered according to The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) content taxonomy standards and guidelines, representing the percentage of the audience or segment interested in each category. Here you can see the IAB Interest Taxonomy Hierarchy.
Example of use
Interest categories wield influence across a spectrum of decisions, from tactical considerations like campaign creative development to strategic choices such as campaign segmentation, targeting, or forging relevant partnerships. The interest categories presented in the report adhere to the IAB standard, enabling broad applicability for targeting individuals with similar interests across various media platforms (e.g., Twitter, Google, Facebook).
It's crucial to note that one of the primary inputs for interest calculation is user-generated content, which reveals the topics individuals are vocal about. This contextual understanding is vital, as certain topics, like news, politics, work, or sports, may be more prominently discussed on X, while others may not receive as much online attention due to their personal nature or limited online presence.
Interest category tab navigation
The Interests tab displays a list of audience interests, ranked by the percentage of the audience interested in each category.
The table comprises three columns:
- The category's position in the ranking (ordered by highest first)
- The interest category itself
- The percentage for the audience compared to the selected baseline
Although the IAB taxonomy organizes contextual content categories into tiers, in Audiense Insights, all interests, regardless of tier, are calculated for the entire audience analyzed. This approach ensures a mix of broader interest categories (e.g., music) and more specific ones (e.g., opera), reflecting whether an individual is interested in the general topic or a niche within it.
Two essential actions:
1. Filter by Group of Categories
Utilize the filter to identify interest categories related to a specific topic or explore interests around a particular theme. For instance, filtering by "Sports" allows users to focus solely on Sports-related interests within the analyzed audience, minimizing irrelevant noise.
Please note that the ranking always displays the absolute position of the interests, even when filters are applied.
2. Download Interests to XLSX
Download data into XLSX format, including main categories and secondary naming for context (note: there's no hierarchy). This enables users to perform groupings or filters similar to those available in the dashboard, facilitating integration with external systems and providing flexibility for list curation or sorting.
Recent visualization changes
Users accustomed to the Interest Categories section may observe recent updates made in April 2024, including:
- Transition from a Nesting view to a Flat List View
- New Filter by Categories Group
- New XLSX Export allowing for further activation
Old view
New view
Benefits of this enhancement:
- Simplified top interests identification (eliminating hidden nesting), making easier the discoverability of top interests
- Improved clarity and actionability
- Ability to filter by group of categories
- Capability to export interests to XLSX format
- Download includes main categories and secondary naming for context, enabling grouping/filtering akin to dashboard functionality.
Upcoming additional features:
- Uniqueness score and ranking (more details to be shared soon).