Introduction

Analytics for Facebook enables you to create Facebook dashboards inside Microsoft® Office Excel 2013 by searching on any combination of terms including contact names, company names, posts and pages titles and keywords.  The workbook comes with several sheets that provide valuable insight into the search terms and are an easy way create your own customized Facebook analytics.

Prerequisites

1. Ensure the following programs are installed on your machine:
   • Microsoft .NET Framework 4.5
   • Microsoft Visual Studio 2010 Tools for Office Runtime
   • Office 2013 Pro (with Power Pivot and Power View COM Add-ins enabled)
     
     
2. View the Troubleshooting Silverlight and Power View instructions on enabling the add-in.

• All reports were designed around a resolution of 1600 x 900 to maximize on the reporting area for the largest number of devices.  For resolutions of 1366 x 768 or lower, the report area should be increased by hiding (or minimizing) some of the Excel tabs, Formula bar and Headings.

To hide the Excel Tabs

1. Click the ribbon display options icon at the upper right corner of the Excel application window.
2. Click Show Tabs.

To hide the Formula Bar and Headings

1. Click View.
2.  Uncheck Formula Bar and Headings.

• For higher resolution displays (1920 x 1080) we recommend zooming into the charts to 130% or 140% for a full screen experience.
• Analytics for LinkedIn 2013 was developed around the Facebook Graph API for retrieving and downloading of all LinkedIn data. As such, the data that is reported on is dependent on the reliability and accuracy of the data that is presented by the Graph API.  Facebook’s Graph API imposes a periodic limit on the number of data rows being returned when their servers are receiving too many requests, both in general and by IP/machine.

Sheet Overview

Quick Start Guide

1. Open the Analytics for Facebook 2013.xlsx file on your desktop.

1. Click Analytics for Facebook within the ribbon.
2. Click Download Friends.
3. In the authorization dialog, enter your Facebook credentials and then click Log In to authenticate to Facebook.

NOTE: If you have a large number of friends, you may have to wait a few minutes before the download process completes.  However, if you don’t want to wait click Stop & Process Now to generate the reports with the list of friends already loaded.

1. Once the download has been processed, click Close.
2. Click the Friends worksheet (if you aren't already there).
3. Click the Data tab within the ribbon.
4. Click Refresh All. This will refresh the data model and build your new reports.

1. Save a copy of your Excel workbook so you can view or update your custom report at a later time.
2. When you are ready to update your existing report, click Download Friends.

Facebook Pages and Posts Search

To fully harness the power of Analytics for Facebook we recommend searching by user Posts and Pages for results containing all of Facebook's public information.  This is a global search through all of Facebook's public posts and pages.  By specifying a small amount of search information such as names (individual, company, sports teams, etc.), key words or hashtags, you can generate a richer analysis of Facebook Posts and/or Pages. In the Facebook Pages or Posts search, each of your five queries use their own configuration, enabling you to compare the same query in different areas or languages.

1. Click Search Posts or Search Pages within the Excel Analytics for Facebook ribbon.
2. Authorize Analytics for Facebook 2013, if you haven’t already done so.
3. Enter your search query - up to five comma separated search terms may be used.
4. Search Posts can be further constrained to posts made between a beginning and ending date.
5. Click Search Pages or Search Posts to begin searching and loading data.
6. When the search has completed and data is loaded, click Close.
7. Click Data within the Excel ribbon.
8. Click Refresh All to refresh all the Analytics for Facebook reports with the updated data.

Troubleshooting Analytics for Facebook 2013

When you open the Analytics for Facebook workbook, you should see an “Analytics for Facebook” tab under the Excel 2013 ribbon. If the Analytics for Facebook Plugin fails to load or install properly while you are in Excel, the tab will be missing from the Excel ribbon. To troubleshoot this problem complete the following steps:

Verifying Analytics for Facebook 2013 Plugin Installation

1. In Excel 2013 click File within the ribbon.
2. Click Options to bring up the Excel Options dialog.
3. In the Excel Options dialog, click Add-Ins to manage your add-ins.
4. At the lower part of the Manage Add-Ins pane, click COM Add-ins from the Manage dropdown menu.
5. Click Go.
6. In the COM Add-Ins dialog, verify that there is only one entry for Analytics for Facebook 2013, and that the plugin is enabled (checked).
7. Click OK to close the COM Add-Ins dialog and then close all open Excel workbooks.
8. Open Analytics for Facebook 2013 by launching the shortcut on your desktop.

Troubleshooting Silverlight and Power View

When you open the Analytics for Facebook workbook it will prompt you to install the Silverlight Plugin if it is not present on your system. If the Silverlight Plugin fails to load or install properly while you are in Excel it will keep prompting you to install the plugin. To troubleshoot this problem complete the following steps:

Verifying Silverlight Plugin Installation

1. Close all open Excel workbooks.
2. Open Internet Explorer and connect to http://www.microsoft.com/silverlight/case-studies/. This page should load the Silverlight Plugin. If the page fails to load properly you will need to reinstall the Silverlight Plugin from http://www.microsoft.com/silverlight/ while using Internet Explorer. Ensure that the Silverlight Plugin loads properly before continuing.
3. Open Excel 2013 and create a blank workbook.
4. Click the Insert tab within the ribbon.
5. Click Power View to insert a blank Power View report.

This will load the Silverlight Plugin and create a blank Power View report. If Power View loads properly try opening the Analytics for Facebook workbook. If Power View doesn't load properly try disabling and then enabling the Power View Add-In by completing the following steps.

Disabling and Enabling the Power View Add-In

1. In Excel 2013 click the File tab within the ribbon.
2. Click Options to bring up the Excel Options dialog.
3. In the Excel Options dialog click Add-Ins to manage your add-ins.
4. Click COM Add-ins from the Manage dropdown menu.
5. Click Go.
6. In the COM Add-Ins dialog verify that there is only one entry for Power View.
7. Verify the Analytics for Facebook Add-In is enabled.
8. Uncheck Power View.
9. Click OK to close the COM Add-Ins dialog and then then close all open Excel workbooks.
10. Open Excel 2013 and create a blank workbook.
11. Follow the previous steps 1-4 to open the COM Add-Ins dialog.
12. Check Power View to enable the Add-In.
13. Click OK to close the COM Add-Ins dialog and then close all open Excel workbooks.
14. Open Analytics for Facebook by launching the shortcut on your desktop.

Revision History 

Version 1.1 (April/2013) 
Updated exception handling for errors during the query and data refresh processes. Includes updated rate limit processing and mitigation of incomplete or corrupted data. Added a check to ensure data does not exceed excel table row limitations.

Known Issues

• Microsoft Office 2013 or greater needs to be installed for this installation to continue: To ensure that Analytics for Twitter functions properly the installer checks for the presence of the "Office15" folder up to five folders deep in your "Program Files" or "Program Files (x86) directories. If you have installed Office 2013 in a non-traditional folder a work around is to create an "Office15" folder in your "Program Files (x86)" folder.
• Silverlight fails to load in Excel if it was installed within a third party browser and not Internet Explorer: If you used a third party browser such as Mozilla Firefox or Google Chrome the Silverlight Plugin may not install properly. Try installing Silverlight by browsing to http://www.microsoft.com/silverlight/ with Internet Explorer.
• Blank data in Power View reports: If you run into problems with your Power View reports a good first step is to try refreshing your data. On the Power View tab in Excel, click Refresh.
• Circular Dependency was detected: If your query fails during processing exit Excel and try your query again. This is a known issue with table processing.
• Unresponsive Power View reports after a new query or data refresh: If your Power View report sheets do not load and only show a waiting spinner after a new query or data refresh you need to close and reopen the Analytics for Facebook workbook. After reopening the workbook, switch to a Power View report sheet, wait for it to load normally, and then perform your new query or data refresh while the Power View report sheet is still open.