Here at DataSift, we live and breathe all things social data. We are constantly amazed by the pioneers who are manipulating that data in extraordinary ways that promote innovations we never thought possible and get especially excited about those who use big data for the greater good of humanity.
That’s why we enjoyed our interview with Jake Porway, Founder and Executive Director of DataKind, a non-profit organization that brings together data scientists and social organizations to correlate big data and provide solutions about global social issues.

When you think about charts and data, “hilarious and witty” are most likely not your first thoughts that come to mind. Big data is all around us – why not make it easy on the eyes? We recently had the pleasure of spending some time with Jason Oberholtzer, blogger for Forbes and co-founder and curator of the popular Tumblr and published book, I Love Charts. As an Internet culture maven and charts junkie, he let us in on how he turns raw data into witty visualizations, the data sharing revolution, and of course, the I Love Charts’ journey from Tumblr to a Nation-wide selling book.

Today, we’re rounding up some of the top Social Data stories on the Web that you might have missed. From the government, to politics to customer targeting, the potential for using Social Media to derive insights is seemingly endless!

Last week, we attended the Social Media Strategies Summit in San Francisco, where Rob Bailey, our CEO, discussed the seven measurable actions that further your company’s marketing and social media efforts. In addition to providing a framework for moving your company’s efforts from beginner to pro, Rob highlighted companies who are thinking strategically about social media, such as Taco Bell, Burberry and KFC.