Why data sampling?
Sometimes you need to create a topic with an unusually large dataset that exceeds the allowed limit of mentions in a topic. In this case, you will need to create a topic with a data sample.
Data sampling allows you to:
conduct market, competitor, and consumer analysis;
analyze trends;
track brand health of your competitors;
prepare sales pitches, and much more.
How data sampling works
You can set up data sampling for any search query. If the number of monthly mentions exceeds the limit at the point of topic creation, YouScan will suggest creating a topic with data sampling at an optimal frequency to suit the topic limitations. By creating such a topic, you can manually adjust the frequency of data sampling for faster collection.
In data sampling topics, YouScan won't save every mention; instead, it will skip some data to collect every nth mention. This way, for example, you can create and analyze a topic with 3,000,000 monthly mentions with only 300,000 posts saved in your topic.
How to create a topic with data sampling
Go to Topics and select "Create topic"
Specify your search query and select "Show preview." If you reached the mention limit in this topic, YouScan will suggest either refining your query or enabling data sampling.
3. Turn the "Data sampling" toggle on. You will see the option to select the sampling frequency.
☝️Please note that once you have selected the sampling frequency, you will not be able to change this parameter after creating the topic.
4. Press "Create topic." You can tell this data sampling topic apart from other topics by a round icon next to its name. Check the sampling frequency by hovering your cursor over the icon.
How to edit a data sampling topic
You can change your search query after creating the topic, but you cannot change the sampling frequency. If the volume of data exceeds the limit as a result of your changes, you will not be able to save those changes. In this case, it's better to create a new topic with the desired search query and select a new recommended sampling frequency.
You cannot turn a regular topic into a sampling topic after creation, and vice versa.
How to use Analytics for data sampling topics
All metrics in the Analytics section, including custom dashboards, will be extrapolated to the full volume of mentions and not limited to the sample set at the topic creation stage.
☝️ All the YouScan smart features (sentiment, trends, aspects, visual aspects) and API will work in a sampling topic. Note that these will only apply to the sample mentions that were saved into the topic.
Limits to data sampling
Sampling doesn't work for the following features:
Logo recognition
Text recognition in images
Channels