Explore ways to visualize your data

There are a lot of ways to visualize the data in your reports to make it easier to understand and identify trends. Whether you use a chart that’s recommended for your data or pick one from a list, it helps to know a little more about each option.

In Analytics, we refer to charts as visualizations displayed in tiles. You can size, name, sort, and compare them. Find out more about customizing the tiles in a report.

Line

Display daily values for the selected time period as lines on an x-y axis. This is a great way to compare series where multiple values intersect. Use Area (description follows) to view metrics with multiple values.

Area

Display daily values for the selected time period using a shaded area on an x-y axis. This is a good way to view metrics with multiple values. Use Line (described previously) to compare metrics with multiple values.

Column

Display daily values for the selected time period. Each vertical column represents a day.

Geo map

Compare metrics by country. Point to a country to show the data specific to that country.

You can add a legend to the map and view your data in a list. Select Configure tile, and then select a geo map with list under Size. Find out more about customizing the metric tiles in a report.

Pie

Display relative sizes of data for metrics with multiple values. Pies display four data values - the three largest and an ‘other’ category that combines all other data into a single group. To view the details of ‘other,’ select List (description follows).

You can add a legend to your pie chart with results represented as numbers and percentages. Select Configure tile, and then select a pie chart with list under Size. Find out more about customizing the metric tiles in a report.

List

Display metrics with multiple values in a list format. Scroll to view the entire list. If you have a metric with an 'other' category, you can use List to view that data.

Number

Display each metric with an aggregated numeric value. Metrics with multiple values display four values - the three largest and an ‘other’ category that combines all other data into a single group. To view the details of ‘other,’ select the List visualization (described previously). Apply a date range comparison to show the difference between periods.

Gauge

Compare two time periods. Point to a line in the gauge to view the number represented. This visualization does not support metrics with multiple values.

When comparing two date ranges, the Gauge can show the differences as a number or as a percentage.

Table

View a summary of posts with selected metrics published to a specific account. Table is exclusively for metrics with ‘Table’ in their name.

Select a column heading to sort the table rows by that column heading. This feature is not available for Ow.ly Traffic tables.

Word map

Look at topic-related message metrics. For example, you can use Word map for a metric like inbound messages that you compare by keyword frequency. It displays a conversation map of words and phrases that show up most often in messages.

Hootsuite eliminates the most common words like "and," "the," and "if." The darker the color in the Word map, the higher the percentage of occurrence of that word.

When used for non-topic-related metrics, the Word map acts like a Pie.

Top posts

Display your top post or your top three posts. Top posts show cool image thumbnails for your post pictures. If your top posts have the same metrics, you’ll see the most recent posts.

Top posts doesn't display tags and campaigns attached to these posts.

Heatmap

Note: The Heatmap visualization can be used only with the Fans online metric for Facebook Pages and the Followers online metric for Instagram Business accounts. To learn more, see Metrics in Analytics.

Discover when your Facebook fans and Instagram followers are online during a selected date range. Add the Fans online (Facebook Pages) or Followers online (Instagram Business accounts) metric to a report and view how many fans or followers were online by day of the week and time of day. Find out more about adding metrics to your report.

You can only use this option with the Facebook Pages Fans online metric and the Instagram Business Followers online metric.

Point to a square to view the total number of fans or followers that were online on a specific day and time.

Tip: You can use this information to schedule posts at the best times. This is a great way to increase visibility and engagement. Create and schedule content in a calendar.

Word cloud

Use the Word cloud visualization to display breakdown values as words and identify trending topics. A larger and darker word indicates a higher value. Point to a word to display its value.

For example, you can use this visualization with metrics like Fans, Inbound messages, or Posts. Break results down by language, tag, or keyword frequency, and then select Word cloud to quickly identify the most popular languages, tags, or keywords.

Change the visualization type

To change the visualization in an Analytics report, do the following:

1. Go to Analytics, and then open a report.
2. Point to a tile in the report, and then select Configure tile.
   
3. Select Properties.
   
4. Select a visualization. If the visualization you want isn’t available, that means that it’s not supported for that metric.
5. Select Close when you're done.