What is Tremors?
At Rummble we’re desperate to help you find the best places to go, wherever you are in the world – and it’s a big problem. The irony is, all the information we need is out there – the challenge is harvesting it in a meaningful way. So we’ve launched an experiment, nicknamed Tremors.
We’d noticed that people often Tweet not only where they are but whether that location or venue is good or bad. If you can interpret this information, you can do a couple of really useful things: Firstly you can use what is essentially a mini-recommendation to rate the venue. Secondly, we could begin to build a trust network for each Twitter user, which over time would build trust relationships of taste between the users who like the same places.
A manic week later, “Tremors” was born. Even using Rummbles existing algorithms and software engine, it’s a challenging problem to solve, you can read more on our Tremors launch post.
Currently it works for London, New York and Austin and tries to match tweets to venues, based upon fuzzy word matching, the general location the tweet came from and then tries to work out if it was a positive or negative comment. It’s far from perfect but for a few days work we’re pretty proud of it!
Don’t expect it to get everything right – it’s a very early alpha experiment and as we can find time or have more resources in the coming months, we’ll hope to improve the accuracy and expand the coverage.
Can you explain that again please?
In short, Tremors data-mines the Twittersphere and finds tweets that reate to specific places (or Rummbles) using fuzzy matching and the general location the tweet came from and then Tremors tries to work out if it was a positive or negative comment…this in particular is a pretty basic implimentation at the moment, so it quite often gets things wrong.
It’s far from perfect but for a few days work we’re pretty proud of it! Check it out and let us know what you think..
Why do I have to sign-up to login?
You dont have to. If you’re in one of the supported location, Tremors will actually pick up your tweet regardless to whether you sign up to Rummble or Tremors. However, to guarantee we dont miss tweets and to allow us to tell you about other Twitter users who like the same places you do, you can login with your Twitter account or you can use an existing Rummble account.
Tremors builds you a trust network that identifies Twitter users who like the same types places you do. In the near future you’ll then be able to check out those users and find another recommendations from users like you, for that we’ll want you to sign in so we know who you are. You can use your Rummble or Twitter log-in. (Rummble also supports Facebook Connect).
Where does Tremors currently work?
At the moment it is supports Austin, New York, San Francisco, and London. With time, hopefully soon, we’ll expand to other major cities around the world.
Why did Rummble come up with Tremors in the first place?
Here at Rummble, we are always looking for new ways to help you find the best places to go that you can count on and trust, wherever you are in the world. The information needed for Tremors to work is out there, and it’s just about connecting the dots and harvesting this information in a meaningful way – so that you have access to finding places you’ll love anywhere and everywhere!
What makes Tremors so hard to build?
We have some very challenging problems to solve in order for the service to be completely up and running. Some of these issues are: the majority of tweets do not have a location, users often misspell places or don’t give the full names of a venue, writing styles and short hand speak are difficult to decipher, and the sheer number of tweets to analyse is almost exponential! Thus, it is a work in progress with a lot of challenges to tackle, which we do hope to solve someday soon.
Why is Tremors a separate service from Rummble?
Harvesting / obtaining valuable data from Tweets is quite difficult – we’ve found that the service isn’t yet accurrate enough to include it in the Rummble data set… Remember, its only been 10 days in production. We wouldn’t want to pollute the Rummble service with inaccuracy, but maybe in future if we continue to develop Tremors, the two could be combined.
The harvesting / obtaining valuable data from Tweets is quite difficult – we’ve found that the service isn’t yet accurrate enough to include it in the Rummble data set… Remember, its only been 10 days in production. We wouldn’t want to pollute the Rummble service with inaccuracy, but maybe in future if we continue to develop Tremors, the two could be combined.
The next step, before having the “Tremors” impact the ratings of Rummbles, will be simply to provide access to the Tremors feed in the Rummble app. You can add a Tremors feed to your application easily too, by using the Rummble API
Do I have to be a Rummble user to use Tremors?
No. You don’t need a Rummble account to use Tremors. If you’re in one of the supported location, Tremors will actually pick up your tweet regardless to whether you sign up to Rummble or Tremors. However, to guarantee we dont miss tweets and to allow us to tell you about other Twitter users who like the same places you do, you can login with your Twitter account or you can use an existing Rummble account & we’ll follow you to start building a trust network for you!
Where can I submit feedback and questions on Tremors?
Click here to let us know any thoughts, feelings, or suggestions you have for the Tremors program! We always appreciate insight.
