GeofeediaBY GeoFeedia is a social media monitoring platform that lets users perform location-based analysis. Geofeedia enables the use of location-tagged data to discover, engage, and analyze content across Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, Picasa, Flickr, Sina Weibo and other social channels.GeoFeedia’s functionality has been used by police groups to help monitor potential problems during high crowd events. A recent case study looked at how GeoFeedia helped the Huntington Beach Police Department (HBPD) track crime surrounding the US Open of Surfing in 2013 which attracted half a million spectators during its nine-day run. The police department was able to monitor tweets at specific areas such as parking garages based on location and specific keywords such as ‘gun,’ ‘fight,’ ‘shoot,’ and ‘riot.’ This allowed the command center to monitor events happening in real-time and more efficiently direct limited police resources.The app was also used to collect evidence and witnesses to crimes after the fact. For example, a riot broke out towards the end of the US Open of Surfing and police were able to pinpoint social media users who were in the location of the riot at the time it was occurring. By combing through social media pictures and videos, the police were able to figure out who the instigators were and build up a list of charges. “We watched a lot of YouTube videos,”Julie Romano of HBPD’s Crime Intelligence Unit recalls. “Every time we saw a suspect break the law, their charge list got longer.”GeoFeedia has also been put to the use by the Mall of America as a tool to monitor and enhance customer service. With over 40 million visitors each, the shopping center is the most visited in the world and contains over five million square feet of stores, restaurants, and a theme park. Not just used as a security monitoring measure, the Mall’s staff also use it to implement their “surprise and delight” program aimed at providing social media users at the mall with gifts and mementos. For example, the employees surprised a couple that had mentioned they were on their first date at the Mall were surprised with a gift at the restaurant they were dining at.For more information about GeoFeedia and real-time social media monitoring based on user-defined geographic search parameters visit: http://geofeedia.com