NetBase - A Tool to Support Research
Updated November 18, 2014

NetBase - A Tool to Support Research

Anonymous | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 7 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User

Software Version

Insights Composer

Overall Satisfaction with NetBase

We used NetBase in our Research and Planning department. We used it as a preliminary research tool when we had to gather information for new business pitches.
  • The tool is great at segmenting data into gender, influencers, content sources, etc.
  • Breaks sentiment up into a unique format. Understands that the change in volume over time, mentions, and intensity is all important for a true sentiment analysis.
  • Sections search queries into categories that can easily be included or excluded for comparison.
  • Topic versus Theme set up should have a bit more clarification on how the two can be used together.
  • Queries should be less keyword based and fit more of a boolean format. This makes including and excluding keywords much easier, removing the process of having to separate these in two different boxes and selecting the keyword to remove it, if necessary.
  • Load time takes too long, depending on the volume of information.
  • Positive: NetBase has provided me with a great competitive landscape, understanding where my clients have moved the needle among their competitors, over time.
  • Negative: The tool limits the look at a range of content sources to understand the entire earned landscape for my clients. Additional tools are needed for analysis.
NetBase has access to the Twitter fire hose, gathering more data for the platform than Google Analytics, Tracx, and Adobe does.
Crimson Hexagon has better visuals and deeper linguistics analysis. CH also seems to have a more accurate sentiment analysis, which can be customized.
Radian 6 is customizable like NetBase, but NetBase is a much easier system to set up and use.
Adobe is primarily for owned metrics, so NetBase is a great tool to support.
5 - All people are data analysts from entry to senior level. NetBase is typically used to gather a data landscape for new business, or do social listening on existing clients on their competitor landscape.
NetBase is great to gather Twitter data. If you are looking to gain a perspective on what users think of a brand, then this is a tool for that. Twitter is a great social forum to gather information users put out there unknowingly that can be used for analysis purposes.

Think about if any additional metrics besides the ones provided by NetBase are needed. Yes, you can get a breakdown on sentiment and what conversations drives polarization. Yes, you can look at overall conversation drivers and who those prominent/influential people are using them. But, from my experience, you cannot look at overall trends, unless you create a query yourself, where a process like that may take countless hours that will continually need revisiting.

Using NetBase

NetBase excels at it's capabilities, but in terms of an overall social landscape analysis, it falls short, where additional tools could provide. NetBase is also not as intuitive for beginners to use/set up. Many times, a client or colleague not in analytics and research needs to look at a data set, and may be confused with what they are viewing without the help of an "expert".