Pulsar CORE vs. Topsy

I think that Pulsar is a good tool for brands or agencies who have a set list of competitors or subbrands that they are looking to do a monthly/weekly comparison of engagement metrics. When you have the brand account inputted, the data is shown in a visually tangible way and easy to comprehend.

Incentivized

Based off the price, I'd be hesitant to blindly recommend Topsy unless there is a need for the kind of big data it provides access to. If access to every single Tweet ever sent about your brand is important, then there is nothing else out there will do what Topsy does. At $12,000 per user, this is definitely not a product for the small social team, but if you manage a larger brand where reporting and brand sentiment mean a lot, then you owe it to yourself to evaluate Topsy Pro

• Track engagements over time
• Easy to use interface
• Modern and updated display

Incentivized

• Access to every single tweet ever sent since the start of Twitter.
• Immediate access to results - extremely easy to generate search queries.
• Multiple ways to visualize data.

• Unfortunately, when exporting data it is often hard to read in an easy format.
• I've used other tools where you can get historical data once you put into the tool but Pulsar cannot do that.

Incentivized

• Pricing is steep and on a per-user basis.
• Limited amount of data sources - Twitter, links and videos.

Quite simply, there is no other option out there with the amount of data we can get from Topsy. Others (like Radian6) have a large amount of data, but it isn't as easy to find, and creating reports is too cumbersome. Report generation in Topsy takes seconds, not minutes

Pulsar is not a complex tool by any means. The interface is updated and comprehensive, and I've used multiple tools in the past where the interface was very outdated and exporting data was often a difficult process since it was not well organized. The tool works well in visualizing complex data.

Incentivized

I have not had to reach out to Pulsar support before but my coworkers have and said the support was good.

Incentivized

The few times we have asked questions, they were answered instantly by our own account rep

I think that Pulsar is one of the more updated platforms that I have used and the metrics exported/shown in the dashboard are accurate. I think that some tools report inaccurate metrics gathered from social media platforms due to the new APIs, something that often causes confusion and lack of clarity.

Incentivized

• Input into our algorithm for brand strength and stature
• Quick engagement tracking

Incentivized

• Immediate access to campaign performance data in social. Our sales team regularly requests metrics from campaigns several years old, and with Topsy, we can dig in and find it. This assists in helping them in their sales pitches to new clients and renewing deals with previous clients.