Twitter analytics for all – how to

Twitter has opened up it’s analytics function to all users. It was previously only available to those who purchased advertising (those promoted accounts/tweets you see if you use the web app or an official Twitter client). It’s not the most straightforward thing to get set up, but it looks like it will be useful for some basic stats in the long run.

To set it up for your account(s) you need to do the following

1. Go to 
   https://ads.twitter.com/
    and logon
2. Select Billing history from the Account and Billing drop down menu
3. Select Switch to advanced - a pop-up window should appear and you’ll have to confirm that you want to make this switch

You should now have an Analytics drop down menu available.

Note that if this doesn’t work for you, you may need to try to do it via Chrome as others have reported it not working with other browsers, especially if they aren’t the most recent version.

Cycling… it’s not for everyone, but the hatred is unnecessary and frightening

I was fortunate to grow up in a place where I could spend hours and hours playing outside without having to compete with traffic. I spent hours on my bike, skateboard, rollerskates, and generally roaming the hills and beach most days. I cycled or walked to school most of the time from age 8-12. Once I got to high school I couldn’t do either so got the big yellow school bus as the high school was 25 or so miles away from home. When I spent a year abroad I once again got to cycle or walk every single day. It was bliss.

Cut to university, and again back to walking and/or taking a bus 99% of the time. I didn’t start to properly drive until I was in my early 20s. This is (or was?) an anomaly for an American teen where you can legally start driving at age 16. I’ve never been a fan of driving or going for a long drive as many of my friends and family are. Using a car was usually because there really was no other option.

When I moved to the UK in 2004 I first took the bus everywhere. It was slow and expensive. Eventually I got a bike and took cycling back up. For the most part I’ve cycled ever since. I’m now a [management] member of the Newcastle Cycling Campaign who are working with local authorities to improve our streets and communities. Non-motorised (ie walking or cycling) travel is good for everyone for a lot of reasons – health, pollution (both of the noxious chemical type and the noise type), and economically.

An All Parliamentary Party Cycling Group just published a report [PDF] for a national strategy to improve cycling as a result of the The Times Cities Fit for Cycling campaign. Yesterday there was an amazing demonstration in Edinburgh – Pedal on Parliament – in which thousands of cyclists participated.

So it’s sad and frightening to see that there is so much hatred towards a group of people and that it’s not only common, but seems to be acceptable. Often this hatred is accompanied by the phrase ‘they don’t pay road tax’. And no, cyclists don’t, but nobody does as it doesn’t exist. I won’t go into this, but please see the excellent I Pay Road Tax website for clarity.

This tweet that was made at the same time as PoPScotland was happening says it all…

The Norwich police are on the case and the user has removed her account though obviously a bit too late.

Here are a couple more recent cyclist-hatred tweets. If you’ve got a strong stomach, have a look at the Twitter account for CycleHatred – a cyclist that re-tweets anti-cycling tweets.

 

Combined with the relatively terrible infrastructure where cyclists compete for space with (at times) fast moving traffic made up of buses, HGVs and all manner of motorists in a hurry, and the anti-cyclist attitudes expressed so openly, it’s not surprising that people are less than willing to get on a bike.

So this is the long way of saying regardless of whether you walk, cycle, take public transport or drive as your usual mode of transport, please sign the petition that is asking for safer roads for everyone. Yes, everyone. It may be cyclists leading the petition, but we’re just after infrastructure that makes us, pedestrians, and motorists safer and less likely to be involved in conflicts on the roads and pavements.

And if you live in Tyneside and cycle, even leisurely, please consider joining the campaign. It’s free and helps us have a stronger voice when we go to local authorities.

Confession: I like food.

I keep neglecting this blog. I’m sorry. I tweet a lot. Of course, most of it is pointless. But maybe the sun, the spring air, and the longer days will get me re-motivated to blog about something. Anything.

So here goes…

While in California, especially while I was in San Francisco proper, I took full advantage of eating delicious food. I used a couple of apps to find places to try — UrbanSpoon was the most helpful. Maybe I’ll get around to sharing some of the delicious things I ate there on this blog, but in the mean time, here are a few things I’ve enjoyed today at the inaugural Boiler Shop Steamer Event in Newcastle.

I started with some white bean patties with roti sauce from Electric East. Yum. I ate every bit of it.

I’d skipped breakfast so I could be sure to have plenty of different things. The burger from Feathers Inn was calling me, but I was worried this might be the end of my grazing. I decided I didn’t care and got the burger…

Totally worth it. Pickles, cheese and celeriac slaw. See, I ate every bit of that too.

I was actually feeling pretty stuffed at that point which was totally disappointing. I got a coffee from Ouseburn Coffee Company in the hopes that by sitting there and taking things in, I might somehow make a bit more room. I decided I’d stuff one more thing in my gob.

I’d sat there watching Lulu (of Lulu Cooks Chinese) expertly make Chinese dumplings. They sounded so good that I gave in and got her golden crispy dumplings with chili oil and hoisin sauce. She was offering a meat version and a vegetarian version. I was fortunate to get to sample both as they didn’t quite have enough of the meat ones available.

 

That’s all I managed – three dishes and a coffee. (Plus a half of cider, heh.) Actually it’s not bad going. If there was some small baked goods I probably would’ve gone for something there too, but at these events the afters bit always seems to be lacking. The Feathers Inn was offering a sticky toffee pudding which was totally difficult to resist because it’s one of my favourites, but I knew it would be too much for me. Maybe next time someone like Settle Down Cafe can have a stall with some nice sweet treats.

This event is now expected to happen the first Friday and Saturday of each month. I hope those involved found it worthwhile. It’s so nice to get these kinds of things oop north! And I do love that venue.