Volume

The Volume tab counts posts matching your query, time range, and topic filter in the Social Intelligence dashboard. Its charts show when those posts were published, and its statistics summarize the counts over time. An author who publishes five matching posts contributes five to the total.

Volume is a useful starting point when the timing of a discussion matters. A total can conceal a brief burst of posts or a fairly steady flow across the range. The time series shows the difference, and narrowing the range to a busy period lets the other tabs and the feed describe the posts published then.

With one query, the tab shows a stats bar, Volume over time, and, for daily intervals, Activity by day. With several queries, Select opens this same layout for one query, Aggregate combines the matching posts, and Compare shows each query separately. Getting Started explains the query controls and these views.

Time intervalsCopy Anchor Link

The dashboard groups posts into daily or weekly intervals according to the selected time range. Average volume shows the unit as hits/day or hits/week, where a hit is one matching post. The charts use your timezone to place posts into calendar days and weeks.

The latest interval can cover only part of a day or week. Its shorter collection period can make its count smaller than earlier counts even when the posting rate has stayed the same. The charts, total, and peak include this interval; the average, trend, and comparison variation calculations omit the final displayed interval when several intervals are available.

Changing the time range can also change the interval size. A weekly peak and a daily peak summarize different lengths of time, so their counts are not directly comparable. After you apply a different range in the calendar control, Analyze in Write queries updates the results.

Single-query statisticsCopy Anchor Link

Total volume is the number of matching posts across the selected range. It includes all matches in that period, whether or not their posts have been loaded into the feed below.

Average volume is the mean count across the displayed intervals used in the calculation, rounded to a whole number of posts. With multiple intervals, the final interval is excluded. If the chart has only one interval, the average uses that interval's count.

The average provides a reference for the bars in the time series: it shows whether a particular day or week was close to the mean or contributed substantially more posts. Empty days at the start or end of the selected range can be absent from the chart, so this average may cover a shorter span than the full range.

Peak volume is the largest count in any displayed interval, including the final one. The date beneath it identifies that interval. In a weekly chart, the date is the start of the week. The peak identifies a busy period; reading its posts can establish what was being discussed.

Volume trend averages the changes between consecutive intervals, then divides that average change by average volume and expresses it as a percentage per day or week. Both calculations exclude the final interval. Positive values are labeled Increasing, negative values Decreasing, and zero Stable.

For an illustrative daily series, suppose the intervals used in the calculation contain 100, 120, and 110 posts. Their average is 110 posts. The changes are +20 and -10, averaging +5, so the trend is about +4.5% per day. The Increasing label describes that average change even though the last included day fell. Likewise, a series that rises and then returns to its starting count can show Stable. Very short series can also show Stable because there are too few intervals to calculate a change.

Total and average volume describe the size of the result; trend describes its direction over time. A small result can be increasing while a larger result is decreasing. The chart shows whether those changes were gradual or concentrated in a few intervals.

Volume over timeCopy Anchor Link

The chart has three modes, all based on the same post counts:

• Volume shows the count in each interval. Pointing at a bar shows its date and count.
• Rate of change shows the difference from the preceding interval, measured in posts. A change from 100 to 120 posts appears as +20. Green marks an increase and red a decrease.
• Cumulative shows the running total through each interval. The increase from one bar to the next is the number of posts added during that interval. Equal increases indicate equal counts; larger increases indicate busier intervals.

Rate of change includes the difference into the final interval, while the trend statistic excludes it. A red final bar can therefore coexist with an Increasing trend. The final interval may also be incomplete, so that red bar alone does not establish a decline in activity.

A narrower time range can isolate a period that stands out in the chart. Applying the range and rerunning the query from Write queries also restricts the feed to posts from that period. Query Syntax explains how to refine the matching text if several discussions appear in the results.

Activity by dayCopy Anchor Link

Activity by day adds the counts for each weekday, Monday through Sunday, across the selected range. For example, the Monday bar combines all matching posts from the Mondays represented in the results. This chart appears for daily intervals and is hidden when the time series uses weekly intervals.

These are weekday totals. The chart does not divide them by the number of Mondays, Tuesdays, or other weekdays in the range. If a range contains three Mondays and two Tuesdays, Monday has more days contributing to its bar. A partial final day can also reduce its weekday's total.

The chart can show that more of the collected posts were published on particular weekdays. A recurring schedule requires checking the individual dates in Volume over time, because a single busy Monday can account for a large Monday total.

Aggregate volumeCopy Anchor Link

Aggregate counts each post matching any active query once and shows the single-query statistics and charts for that combined set. It is useful for measuring posts selected by several names or phrasings without adding their overlapping counts.

Suppose two queries match 100 and 80 posts, with 30 posts shared between them. Aggregate shows 150 posts. Compare retains the individual counts of 100 and 80.

Comparing queriesCopy Anchor Link

Compare uses a common time range, topic filter, and interval size for all queries. Each query retains its color and display name in the charts. Different wording can select different material, so a count difference depends on the queries as well as the subjects being discussed.

Statistics and total volumeCopy Anchor Link

Highest volume and Lowest volume identify the queries with the largest and smallest matching post counts. The Volume chart shows every query's total on the same scale.

Highest variation and Lowest variation compare how widely each query's interval counts vary. For each query, the calculation subtracts the smallest included count from the largest, divides by the mean of those counts, and multiplies by 100. The final displayed interval is excluded.

For example, included counts of 100, 200, and 300 have a spread of 200 and a mean of 200, giving 100% variation. Reversing their order leaves variation unchanged. The measure describes the size of the spread relative to average volume; the time series shows the sequence.

Two queries with similar totals can have very different variation: one may receive comparable counts each day, while the other receives most of its posts during a short burst. The variation cells draw attention to that difference, and the time series locates it within the range.

Charts over timeCopy Anchor Link

Volume over time stacks a separate segment for each query within each interval. Its modes are:

• Volume, which shows each query's post count in that interval.
• Distribution, which divides each query's count by the sum of all query counts for that interval. The segments total 100% when there are matches.
• Cumulative, which stacks each query's running post total through the interval.

A query's cumulative series ends at its last returned interval. Its segment can disappear while other queries continue, so the final stack may omit an earlier query's total. Select shows that query's own series and total.

A post matching several queries contributes to each query's segment. The stacked total therefore includes overlap, and Distribution shows shares of the summed query counts. Aggregate supplies the distinct-post count across all queries. In the example above, the two query counts add to 180 even though only 150 posts match either query.

When daily intervals are in use, Activity by day also stacks the queries. Each segment is that query's total for the weekday across the range. The same overlap and unequal weekday coverage apply to this chart.

This view can show whether the collected posts follow similar weekday patterns across queries. The individual dates in Volume over time help distinguish a pattern repeated over several weeks from a single busy day contributing much of one weekday's total.