If, like me, you read the recent announcement that Google Analytics just added social tracking to their tool, you'll probably be thinking, "Nice, I'd like to get me some of that social media analytics".

If you've checked the new fancy-schmancy version of the tool - look for the red New Version link in the top right-hand corner of the interface - it's likely you'll head straight for the Social section. Unless you're getting lots of Google +1's on your content, most of your traffic will be listed as Not Socially Engaged.

It's a little disheartening, and probably not entirely true. The reason? You need some custom code in order to track Twitter and Facebook interactions. Fortunately, there's documentation to help with this.

If you're in a rush, I've glued together the bits of Javascript you'll need to track Twitter and Facebook interactions:

function trackFacebook() {
  try {
    if (FB && FB.Event && FB.Event.subscribe) {
      FB.Event.subscribe('edge.create', function(targetUrl) {
        _gaq.push(['_trackSocial', 'facebook', 'like', targetUrl]);
      });
      FB.Event.subscribe('edge.remove', function(targetUrl) {
        _gaq.push(['_trackSocial', 'facebook', 'unlike', targetUrl]);
      });
      FB.Event.subscribe('message.send', function(targetUrl) {
        _gaq.push(['_trackSocial', 'facebook', 'send', targetUrl]);
      });
    }
  }
  catch(e) {
  }
}
function trackTwitter() {
  try {
    if (twttr && twttr.events && twttr.events.bind) {
      twttr.events.bind('tweet', function(event) {
        if (event) {
          var targetUrl;
          if (event.target && event.target.nodeName == 'IFRAME') {
            targetUrl = extractParamFromUri(event.target.src, 'url');
          }
          _gaq.push(['_trackSocial', 'twitter', 'tweet', targetUrl]);
        }
      });
    }
  }
  catch(e) {
  }
}
function extractParamFromUri(uri, paramName) {
  if (!uri) {
    return;
  }
  var uri = uri.split('#')[0];  // Remove anchor.
  var parts = uri.split('?');  // Check for query params.
  if (parts.length == 1) {
    return;
  }
  var query = decodeURI(parts[1]);

  // Find url param.
  paramName += '=';
  var params = query.split('&');
  for (var i = 0, param; param = params[i]; ++i) {
    if (param.indexOf(paramName) === 0) {
      return unescape(param.split('=')[1]);
    }
  }
}
trackFacebook();
trackTwitter();

These should work for any site using Google Analytics - you'll just need to pop the code in between the code that calls the Google Analytics tracker. So in a standard implementation, it'd look something like this:

<script type="text/javascript">

  var _gaq = _gaq || [];
  _gaq.push(['_setAccount', 'XXXXXX']);

  // STICK YOUR SOCIAL TRACKING CODE IN HERE

  _gaq.push(['_trackPageview']);

  (function() {
    var ga = document.createElement('script'); ga.type = 'text/javascript'; ga.async = true;
    ga.src =
      ('https:' == document.location.protocol ? 'https://ssl' : 'http://www')
      + '.google-analytics.com/ga.js';
    var s = document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0]; s.parentNode.insertBefore(ga, s);
  })();

</script>

If you're running a Drupal site and have the rather nifty Google Analytics module installed, it's even easier to install the code (we're running Drupal 6, but instructions should be very similar for other versions).

Login as an admin and navigate to admin > settings > googleanalytics and scroll down the page and expand the Advanced settings list, then do the same for the label Custom Javascript code.

Then copy/paste the social tracking code above (or grab from this plain text version) and insert into the field labelled, Code snippet (before). Click Save. You're done. Grab a coffee, you deserve it.

N.B. This was put together very quickly with minimal testing, so make sure you test thoroughly. Any tips, problems, etc, feel free to leave a comment. This code has minimal error checking, if Twitter or Facebook's Javascript isn't present in the page, it should behave, but no guarantees. Use at your own risk.

Photo (cc) Celeste.

Having taken the plunge in January and moving wholesale from Outlook to Gmail, I've become hooked. Once or twice, I've even got close to reaching Inbox Zero. Close, but no cigar, at least not for long. Still, it's an improvement.

Now Gmail is pretty quick, but turning on Gmail's keyboard shortcuts (and remembering at least some of them) makes handling email even quicker. 

There's one niggle though and it was driving me particularly bonkers. The keyboard shortcut for deleting a message is #. Fine, you'd think. Unless you have an Apple MacBook with a UK keyboard layout. In this case, to generate a # key, you press Alt + 3. Which doesn't work. Apparently the problem also affects other European keyboard layouts.

Now, I can imagine you're thinking that this is pedantry in the extreme. Surely, it's not a big deal. Perhaps, but for me, a typical day will see 2-400 emails pour into my inbox. Thankfully, after lots of hunting round, I found a solution, which I've written up below in case anyone else is being driven nuts (yes, I know, I need to get out more).

Workaround: Gmail Delete Key (#) Shortcut for Apple's UK, French, German Keyboards

Firstly, turn on the Keyboard Shortcuts. Seriously, it's worth doing this step without anything else. Mastering these shortcuts will save you heaps of time and make the Gmail experience even better.

Go to your Gmail settings (top-left hand corner, once you've logged in). Click on the link labelled Settings. Make sure Keyboard shortcuts on (see pic below) is selected and click Save Changes at the bottom of the page.

You might need to log out, then login in again for the shortcuts to kick in. Test them out to make sure they're working, here's a few I found particularly useful:

• o - open a message (Shift + o will open the message in a new window)
• r - reply to a message
• g + i - go to the inbox
• / - go to the search box

Check out the full list in the Gmail help section and there's a handy printable version put together by Evan Williams of Twitter fame.

So, the annoying UK keyboard layout problem? How to get round it? Luckily there's a feature in Gmail Labs - a collection of handy tweaks for Gmail - called Custom keyboard shortcuts written by the enigmatic sounding Alan S.

Click on the Labs link in your Gmail Settings (see pic below), find the Custom keyboard shortcuts feature and select Enable, then click Save Changes at the bottom of the page.

Once the page re-loads, you'll see a new tab at the top of Settings page, labelled Keyboard Shortcuts, click on the link to tailor the keyboard shortcuts, including that annoying delete key.

I've left the other settings as their defaults and changed the delete key to 3 (instead of Alt + 3), not particularly imaginative.

I figured that the usability people at Gmail have probably given some thought to the layout of the shortcuts and this is almost the same as the default layout.

And there you have it, hope that's useful.

If the prospect of putting a line through the final item on a lengthy to do list is close to nirvana, then you're probably trying to deal with inbox anxiety, that constant battle to keep your email under control.

I'm with you. The number of unread items in my email inbox steadily grows mocking me, like my own person national email debt clock. Although I haven't had to make any bailouts (Select All > Delete). Yet.

The fact that everyone in your social circle has found numerous and ingenious ways to multiply those neuroses through social networks with their alternate inboxes, direct messages, pokes, walls and who-knows-what next, there's no way of keeping up.

As Dolly Parton puts it, "islands in the stream, that is what we are". It's a case of letting the social river drift by, dipping a virtual toe into the stream from time-to-time and trying not to get anxious about what's just floated by - let's stretch the metaphor - whether a pretty little fishy tidbit or something decidedly unsanitary.

Don't feel bad. There's not much that can be done without resorting to technology, which hasn't quite progressed to the point where it'll know whether to reply immediately, fib about a deadline or quietly ignore a friend request (don't pretend you haven't done it).

Don't believe me? Check out the numbers on this social media equivalent of the debt clock by web & TV clever clogs, Gary Hughes...

It's disturbingly mesmerising, which is more than be said by some of the bilge in my inbox. Better get back to it, won't delete itself now, will it?

Picture courtesy of Rafiq Phillips. Some rights reserved.

Inspired by Peter Hill, writer of pithy, witty and altogether-too-clever headlines, who is too lazy to update his own blog, so I'm posting them corking headlines here.

Nope, it's not faked, it's actually snowing in Las Vegas (the one in the middle of desert) for the first time since 1979. Check out the photos at designyoutrust.com for the full majesty (Ok, that's a bit much, let's say effect) of the Vegas strip covered in snow.

Doesn't it look romantic. Get thee to an Elvis-themed chapel this instant.

One tip, if you're in Vegas and a red-faced portly gentleman starts shouting "Ho ho ho" at you, the surprise gift you'll pick up will probably clear up with the right ointment. Or so I'm told.

[Pic courtesy of Dmitry at designyoutrust.com]