Guide to filters

Find a range of filtering options within your dashboard to narrow the focus of the data you’re viewing. Whether you want to define different views of the data available for your overall community, or within a project dashboard, use this article to learn what each filter does and the kinds of questions you can use each one to explore.

Time period

By default, your dashboard is set to display data from the past 7 days. However, you can alter this view in order to add more context, or to focus on a particular window of time in the past. You can select one of the following:

• Yesterday

• Today

• 7 Days

• 30 Days

• Year

• Month(s)

• Custom

Note: This filter doesn’t override the interval filter in the volume of interactions widget. For example, you can select to view data that spans a two month period, yet to view the number of interactions charted by one week intervals.

Sentiment

Upon login, you’ll see positive and negative sentiment represented within your dashboard (data items classified as neutral are included in the overall volume of interactions count, as well as viewable by hovering over most widgets). The filter options are:

• Positive

• Neutral

• Negative

These filters can be useful for gleaning the highs and lows of the conversation happening in your community. What are residents most exuberant about? What is most concerning to residents?

Channels

The data items found in your dashboard are collected from a variety of sources, coming from both official and unofficial channels. Official channels are ones that are managed by the local government, while unofficial channels are ones that are managed by citizen or community groups. When you filter by one or the other, you can discover if or how the conversation differs between the two. Is the overall sentiment different? What about the size of the conversation:? Or the topics that are raised or not raised in one channel or the other?

You can also use this filter within a project dashboard or combined with a topic filter to assess where the conversation on that particular issue is happening, get a better sense of what residents are saying, and develop strategic communication plans accordingly.

Under Show More, you will see the following additional filters:

Topic

Choose the topics or subtopics you’re most interested in to see how they appear in the conversation happening in your area. To select the whole topic, click the circle that appears to its left. To view subtopics, click the arrow to its right and select the ones that are most relevant to your question. Another way to navigate to a filtered topic view is by heading to the widget called "Most popular topics" and clicking on the topic that interests you most.

Note: This filter is most applicable within your general dashboard, or when selecting a topic that is closely related to a chosen project.

Source

Navigate among the different sources that are connected to your dashboard, organized under the categories of:

• Local government hotline

• Social media

• News media

You can get even more specific within most categories, such as opting to see data items from one local news station’s Twitter handle. This information can be insightful for continuing to piece together where a conversation is unfolding, or how a topic is discussed differently across popular platforms in your community.

Location

Examine how the conversation differs across your community by using the location filter. Select one of your connected geographic areas to understand what’s top of mind for residents of that district or zip code, and compare and contrast the level of resident engagement and sentiment about various topics. Another way to augment this view is by heading to the map widget or tab for a visual representation of the conversation, and for additional filtering options.