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06-08-2013, 09:24
Rebecca Hawkes | 05-08-2013A new platform analysing the life cycle of Internet news stories is being launched by Qatar Computing Research Institute (QCRI) and television news network Al Jazeera to help predict user behaviour.The platform, FAST (Forecast and Analytics of Social Media and Traffic), will, say the developers, allow news organisations to deliver more relevant and engaging content as well as improve the allocation of resources to developing stories."Al Jazeera English's website thrives on good original content in news and features, dynamic ways of creativity through interactive and crowd sourcing methods, and up-to-date social media tools," said Imad Musa, head of online, Al Jazeera English."[FAST] allows us to understand the consumption of news and what is expected to do well in driving traffic forward. Analytics in predicting the future trend of a Web story is a crucial component in understanding Web traffic."The QCRI and Al Jazeera research partnership has "developed a platform that will help shift the way media does business," said Dr Ahmed Elmagarmid, executive director, QCRI.Using a hybrid observation method, FAST prediction integrates different user interactions to a news article, including website visits, social media reactions, and search and referrals, in order to forecast the number of page views an article will receive during its effective lifetime