Once you have created your search, it's time to collect data! Think of it like online shopping where you've added all the items in your bag, and then its time to make payment (in this case, meaning the data coming out of your allowance).
Real-Time Data
Real-time data are results that are collected as they are posted online, from the moment you click the green 'start' button until the search is stopped either manually or as scheduled by the user. Results are collected at regular intervals throughout the day, though the time frame of these intervals varies depending on the data source. For example, real-time X data arrives into TRAC every 60-90 seconds.
Historical Data
Historical data means ordering in data from a previous time period. Pulsar automatically generates a preview for the data sources selected showing an estimate of how much historical data will be pulled in the time frame specified.
The historical data option lives under the realtime data. You will need to select a start date and an end date, the select the data sources you want.
💡Tip: If you hover over each data source, it will show you the historic availability for that specific source. For example, in the below screenshot, hovering over TikTok shows you that we collect historical data for the last 30 days:
Once you have ordered the historical data and it has finished previewing, make sure you launch them by clicking on the green launch icon which looks like the below:
The time period for which data can be collected varies depending on the data source.
See the following page for details on the maximum length of period you can collect historical data for each data source:
🚨 Important: It's vital to monitor your data usage in order to ensure you are staying within your team's monthly allowance. The following article provides a tutorial on how to manage your Data Usage.
First-Party Data
Using First-Party Data as a data source allows you to upload your own business data to Pulsar TRAC. A search can contain a combination of First-Party Data and other data sources. You will be able to analyse this data as you would with any other data source. In order to add First-Party Data, you must upload a CSV file and map the data to our platform-specific fields.
See the following pages for more details on First-Party Data including instructions on how to upload your data:
We hope you enjoyed reading this article! 📚
If you have any questions or would like to learn more, please don't hesitate to reach out to our support team via live chat. 🚀