What is Big Data? (by Titus Kimbowa)

Photo from Start Work Now

When at meet ups, there are plenty founders and entrepreneurs alike that talk a big game when it comes to big data. They tell you how they plan on using big data to get customers and design the best app ever. But how are you getting this big data and how are you using it to accomplish these goals?

*Awkward silence*

What’s big data to me? Here’s my short version:

Social graph of any given user:

Likes: 

  • How many likes? 
  • What do these likes mean? 
  • What can you say about that person’s interests? 
  • What’s their state of mind?
  • Track and group likes in same vertical 
  • Find influencers, etc.

Photos: 

  • What’s the occasion?
  • Who’s in it?
  • Location?
  • Date and time 
  • Find influencers, etc.

Status updates, tweets, etc etc.

This can be done across all social and business graphs to find ways to target groups and communities at the deepest level.

Think: Zuck’s experiment

Analyzing and understanding what all these mean is the big challenge for many marketers. Luckily, there are plenty of tools to help you understand and use big data.

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Titus Kimbowa

 is a young entrepreneur living in Seattle, WA. He was born in Kampala, Uganda & moved to the States when he was 12. He’s currently a senior at the University of Washington and serves as vice-president of the UW American Marketing Association, and he's interning as the product marketing analyst for stealthy start-up Webtuner. He’s got past experience as part of the Zagat team at Google, Crown Social, TEDxYouth Seattle, and starting up an enterprise travel company. In his spare time (which he rarely gets) he likes to play basketball, read, and hang out around Seattle.

Find Titus on Twitter, and view all of his posts here.