You know that moment when your CEO says "this social media stuff is all very well - but so what? How can you prove it's had any kind of impact?"

Well, let's say that evaluation is something that the whole of my campaign is rightly focusing on. And it turns out that the evaluation consultancy we're working with are pretty new to 'new media'. So, happily, they invited me over to their offices to help with a luncthime seminar on using social media for monitoring and evaluation.

Preparing for the seminar gave me a reason to read all those great Beth Kanter ROI posts i've been saving up :). You may be interested to read my conclusions so far at The Apollo and Dionysus of digital evaluation - and I'd certainly be interested to get your comments.

Maenad with tambour by Glamhag

Posted here: http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=p7Ll8s5O1dQieNPVfXSNpWw

Use as you wish...intended to allow anyone to make their decision process a bit less painful. :)

The first three bold categories are the criteria listed on the 11th-to-the-last page of the larger crazy-patterned book with 1-page profiles of each projects. I'm going to rate projects in some of the categories listed here on a 1-5 scale (5 being best) and tally the results to help me decide.

 If you'd like to suggest additional criteria, post it in the comments and I'll add it. Thanks to the Meebo'ers for a fab lunch and input @ the fountain!

I am curious to know how you feel Web 2.0 features will impact web analytics. Will they prompt a shift in how people measure effectiveness online? Are you gearing up to reconcile linkages against syndication?

I have a couple of theories I’m curious to investigate:

1.) I suspect that ‘influentials’ will become important to web evaluation...people, tools, and sites that act as marketing ambassadors through their reach.

2.) I also suspect the resulting impact of ‘influentials’ will prompt a demand for some kind of value metric. That value metric will help
web marketers measure beyond volume (perhaps even beyond engagement to evaluate quality).

Your perspectives and feedback are most appreciated!