Feeds
The Manage Feeds panel lets you view, delete, add, and edit feeds.
A feed is a stream of contacts coming from a single source. Setting up feeds is a foundational step for your SocialMiner system. (You need to configure at least one feed and add it to a campaign before you can start seeing contacts on your home page.)
SocialMiner uses a process called de-duplication to automatically remove duplicate contacts. For example, if a user configures several overlapping feeds that capture the same result, then SocialMiner does not capture the same contact twice. The de-duplication functionality relies on the unique URL of the post. Before SocialMiner creates a new contact in the data store, it verifies that the URL of that contact is not already in the data store.
Feed types are:
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Push—Use this feed type to create social contacts. For example, by using an HTML form or to submit the social contacts directly into the feed. (Only the SocialMiner Administrator sees Push as an option on the feed Type drop-down.)
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Chat—Use this feed type to create social contacts for chat. (Only the SocialMiner Administrator sees Chat as an option on the feed Type drop-down.)
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Callback—This feed type receives incoming callback requests from the Callback API and, provided they are properly tagged, triggers Connection to CCE notifications to forward the callback contact to CCE for routing to a contact center agent. (Only the SocialMiner Administrator sees Callback as an option on the feed Type drop-down.)
Callback feeds are only used when SocialMiner is deployed with Unified CCE.
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Email—An IMAP email feed. You can view email feeds in the SocialMiner user interface. However, you cannot create a new email feed or modify an existing one. Email feeds are only used when SocialMiner is deployed with Unified CCX. In this integrated deployment, Unified CCX automatically creates email feeds as needed.
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Task— Use this feed type to submit incoming Task requests through the Task API. Task feeds are only used when SocialMiner is deployed with Unified CCE. If the feed is tagged properly, then the task contact is forwarded to Unified CCE for routing to a contact center agent through SocialMiner's CCE notification.
Icons are used as visual indicators to display the state of each feed. Hover the cursor over the icon to display a tool tip that explains the state.
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The feed is operating normally.
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Scheduled. This is a brief interim state. Feeds are normally in this state for a very short time.
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An error occurred. Hover over the error icon to display a tool tip with the error text.
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The feed has been created, but is not assigned to any campaigns.
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The status of the feed cannot be determined.
Contacts retrieved by feeds are time-limited by the number of days defined in the Purge Social Contacts older than (days) setting of the Purge Settings tool on the Administration tab. The default is to retain social contacts for 30 days.
If you change a feed (for example, to rename it, change the URL, or change the polling interval), you do not need to re-add it to the campaign.
Adding and Editing Feeds
To create a feed, click New in the Manage Feeds panel. To edit the settings for a feed, select its name.
Select the feed type and complete the fields for the feed type. The fields vary by feed type, which are described below.
Adding Feeds Using the Feed Bookmarklet
The link at the bottom of the Manage Feeds panel, Feed Bookmarklet, initiates the process to create a bookmarklet in your browser that you can use to create feeds.
Deleting Feeds
Select the checkbox to the left of one or more feed names and click Delete. A confirmation dialog box appears. Click OK to confirm deletion of the selected feed(s).
Polling Interval for Feeds
The polling interval controls how often SocialMiner updates the feed. A shorter polling interval provides more frequent updates but creates more load on the SocialMiner server and on the sites publishing the feed. Some sites may have recommendations or restrictions on frequent polling and could block an application that polls too frequently.
The default SocialMiner polling interval for feeds is five minutes.
Minimum Age for Feeds
Use the minimum age setting to filter out recent posts.
Automatic Tags for Feeds
All feeds support automatic tagging, which allows you to specify up to 20 tags that are applied to new contacts for a feed across all campaigns that include that feed.
To add an automatic tag to the feed, enter one or more (separated by commas) tags into the Automatic Tags text box, then click Add.
To remove an automatic tag from the feed, select the small x next to the tag name.
Extension Fields in Push and Chat Feed Sample Code
Extension fields are a collection of custom name and value pairs that can be added to social contacts using the push feed and chat feed sample code. You can add social contact data to email and IM notifications by including extension fields as notification body variables.
You can add a maximum of 100 extension fields; up to one megabyte of information.
The following sections describe how to configure specific feed types. Fields marked with an asterisk (*) on the form are required. All other fields are optional.
Push Feed
The push feed allows you to "push" social contacts directly to SocialMiner through HTTPS GET or POST requests. A push feed is an interface for generating a social contact through a web form. For example, you might want to create a social contact to test the routing of email notifications. You might also want to create a social contact for a response to a feedback form on your website.
The SocialMiner Administrator can add, edit, and delete push feeds. Non-administrators can only see, use, and add push feeds to campaigns on the Configuration tab.
Configure a Push Feed
- Access the Manage Feeds panel.
- Click New.
- Select
Push as
the feed type, then enter information in the following fields:
- Name
- Description
- Reply template—the reply template to be used for replying to social contacts obtained from this feed.
- Automatic tags—provide automatic tags for the feed.
- Click Save to save the feed.
- Select the saved push feed from the list of feeds to open it in edit mode. You see a Sample Code link which contains working HTML code containing the correct IP address and feed id values for the instance you are working
on. It also displays the form fields you need to get from the user and some examples of optional fields you can include, such
as tags and extension fields.
In the following example, we use extension field 'Remarks'.
<style type='text/css'>span { display: inline-block; width: 100px; }</style> <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"> <form action='https://<ServerIP>:<Port>/ccp-webapp/ccp/pushfeed/117835' method='get'> <span>Title:</span> <input id='title' type='text' name='title' /><br/> <span>Author:</span> <input id='author' type='text' name='author' /><br/> <span>Description:</span> <input id='description' type='text' name='description' /><br/> <span>Tags:</span> <input id='tags' type='text' name='tags' /><br/> <span>Remarks:</span> <input id='remarks' type='text' name='extensionField_remarks' value='sample value' /><br> <input id='submit' type='submit' value='Submit'/> </form>
- Copy the code from the sample code link and save it as HTML. Edit the fields; then click Submit on the HTML form.
The social contact will appear in the campaign that includes the push feed.
If the tags in the push feed code are associated with notification rules, the notifications will trigger immediately when the social contact is submitted.
You can have multiple independent push feeds on one SocialMiner system.
The push feed must be associated with a campaign in order to activate. Create a test campaign prior to testing your push feed.
Chat Feed
A chat feed is a variation of a push feed that contains sample HTML code for the fields a customer sees in a click-to-chat request form. When the customer clicks on a chat button and submits the form, a social contact is created and added to the campaign for the chat feed. SocialMiner displays a welcome screen, sets up a chat session for that social contact, and logs the user represented by that social contact into the chat session.
The SocialMiner Administrator can add, edit, search, and delete chat feeds as well as set the values for the chat join and chat inactivity timeouts. These values are set on a feed-by-feed basis.
Users can see, use, and add chat feeds to campaigns on the Configuration tab.
You cannot configure a chat feed from the SocialMiner user interface. Unified CCX automatically creates chat feeds as required in an integrated deployment with SocialMiner and Finesse.
Configure a Chat Feed
- Access the Manage Feeds panel.
- Click New.
- Select
Chat as
the feed type, then enter information in the following fields:
-
Name
-
Description
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Chat join timeout—define how long the system waits for an agent to join the chat during the setup process before sending the customer the chatAgentJoinTimeout message (see below).
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Chat inactivity timeout—define how long the system waits before automatically closing the chat session if there is no customer activity.
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Reply template—select Cisco Chat. The Cisco Multi-session chat option is only used when SocialMiner is deployed with Unified CCX and Cisco Finesse for multisession chat.
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Automatic tags—provide automatic tags for the feed.
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Click Save.
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Select the saved chat feed from the list of feeds to open it in edit mode.
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Select the Sample Code link to open sample code that contains working HTML with the form fields you need to make the POST request for the chat feed.
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Save the code from the Sample Code link locally and modify it as needed.
For example:
Replace "./img/ciscoLogoColor.p ng" with the location of your own logo and replace the default extensionField_chatError and extensionField_chatWaiting text strings with the messages you want the customer to see for each circumstance.
- Add the HTML to your
website.
- The HTML code from the Sample Code link includes the SocialMiner server IP address and feed ID (100045 in the following example). If you have multiple chat feeds, the Feed ID will be different for each one; be sure to copy the sample code from the correct chat feed.
- The code also contains form fields: Title, Author, Description, Tags, and three extension fields.
- In general, extension fields are a collection of custom name/value pairs that can be added to social contacts and are subsequently displayed in the Agent Chat user interface. For example, a 'Remarks' extension field appears in the sample form below. The name of the field and the value entered by the customer are added to the social contact and are displayed to the agent.
- Four hidden extension
fields are special extension fields used to customize the customer chat user
interface - they are not added to the social contact and therefore are not
displayed in the agent chat user interface.
- extensionField_chatAgentJoinTimeOut
- extensionField_chatError
- extensionField_chatLogo
- extensionField_chatWaiting
During the chat setup process, if no agent responds before the chat join timeout, the customer is sent a message (defined in extensionField_chatAgentJoinTimeout) indicating that they can continue waiting or try again later.
Note |
Users must localize the messages they insert in the sample form in order for it to appear appropriately in their customer chat interface. For localization into languages that use characters outside the ASCII set, the characters need to be encoded into HTML character references to avoid corruption. |
The sample code also includes a Submit button.
Here is an example of the SocialMiner code for a chat feed. This example is for illustration purposes only - do not copy and paste from this example as the server address and feed ID will not be appropriate for your instance. Always use the code from the Sample Code link.
<style type='text/css'>span { display: inline-block; width: 100px; }</style>
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8">
<form action='https://<SocialMinerServer>/ccp/chat/form/100045' method='post'>
<span>Title:</span>
<input type='text' name='title' /><br/>
<span>Author:</span>
<input type='text' name='author' /><br/>
<span>Description:</span>
<input type='text' name='description' /><br/>
<span>Tags:</span>
<input type='text' name='tags' /><br/>
<span>Remarks:</span>
<input type='text' name='extensionField_remarks' value='sample value' /><br>
<input type='submit' value='Submit'/>
<input type="hidden" name="extensionField_chatLogo" value="./img/ciscoLogoColor.png">
<input type="hidden" name="extensionField_chatWaiting" value=
"Welcome, please wait while we connect you with a customer care representative.">
<input type="hidden" name="extensionField_chatAgentJoinTimeOut" value=
"All customer care representatives are busy assisting other clients.
Please continue to wait or try again later.">
<input type="hidden" name="extensionField_chatError" value=
"Sorry, the chat service is not available. Please try again later.">
</form>
When a user completes and submits the form, a URL to the new social contact is returned. The user sees an interface with the welcome message.
If no agent picks up the chat before the first timeout, the message changes to indicate no agent is available.
If the system reaches the second timeout before an agent picks up the chat, the user receives the chat error message.
Modify the Sample Code for a Chat Feed
You can modify the content within the span tags and add more extension fields. You cannot delete the title or author.
Example of a Modified Form
In this modified form, the label for "Title" was changed to "My Issue". The label for "Author" was changed to "My Name". "Description" was removed. The "Remarks" extension field was removed, and three extension fields were added: "My Preferred Language", "My Phone", and "My Email".
<style type='text/css'>span { display: inline-block; width: 100px; }</style>
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8">
<form action='https://<ServerIP>:<Port>/ccp/chat/form/100051' method='post'>
<span>My Issue:</span>
<input type='text' name='title' /><br/>
<span>My Name:</span>
<input type='text' name='author' /><br/>
<span>Tags:</span>
<input type='text' name='tags' /><br/>
<span>My Preferred Language:</span>
<input type='text' name='extensionField_language’ value='enter language' /><br>
<span>My Phone:</span>
<input type='text' name='extensionField_phone’ value='enter phone number' /><br>
<span>My Email:</span>
<input type='text'name='extensionField_email’ value='enter email address' /><br>
<input type='submit' value='Submit'/>
</form>
Callback Feed
A callback feed allows callback applications to submit customer requests to CCE for a return phone call (a callback) from a contact center agent.
The SocialMiner Administrator can add, edit, and delete callback feeds. Non-administrators can see callback feeds on the Configuration tab and add them to campaigns.
Before creating an agent request with the Callback API , you must have a Callback feed assigned to a campaign and a 'Connection to CCE' notification set up with a tag that matches the tag defined in this feed.
Configure a Callback Feed
- Access the Manage Feeds panel.
- Click New.
- Select
Callback
as the feed type, then enter information in the following fields:
- Name
- Description
- Automatic tags—Configure the feed to automatically tag all callback requests that come in on that feed. This tag must match the tag on the Connection to CCE notification in order to trigger the notification.
Reply template automatically defaults to "No reply template".
- Click Save to save the feed.
Email Feed
You cannot configure an email feed from the SocialMiner user interface. Unified CCX automatically creates email feeds as required in an integrated deployment with SocialMiner and Finesse.
Task Feed
A Task feed allows applications to submit multichannel customer requests to CCE to be routed to contact center agents.
The SocialMiner Administrator can add, edit, and delete Task feeds. Nonadministrators can see Task feeds on the Configuration tab and add them to campaigns.
A default Task feed, campaign, Connection to CCE notification, and tag are created automatically when you add SocialMiner as an External Machine in the Unified CCE Administration System Inventory tool. If the default Task feed, campaign, and notification have already been configured, they are updated to ensure that the feed is associated with a campaign and a Connection to CCE notification, and that the tags match.
Configure a Task Feed
- Access the Manage Feeds panel.
- Click New.
- Select
Task as
the feed type, then enter information in the following fields:
- Name
- Description
- Automatic tags—Configure the feed to automatically tag all requests that come in on that feed. This tag must match the tag on the Connection to CCE notification in order to trigger the notification.
Reply template automatically defaults to "No reply template".
- Click Save to save the feed.
Get and Use the Feed Bookmarklet
Procedure
Step 1 |
From the Manage Feeds panel, drag the Feed Bookmarklet link at the bottom of the panel to the Bookmarks toolbar in your browser. (If you select the Feed BookMarklet link directly, you see a message instructing you to drag the link to the toolbar.) You may be prompted to confirm that you want to add the bookmarklet. |
Step 2 |
Navigate to a website with RSS feeds. |
Step 3 |
From that page, select the feed bookmarklet bookmark that you dragged to the Bookmarks toolbar. A message displays if the page has no feeds. |
Step 4 |
If you are prompted to sign in, enter your SocialMiner credentials. (You must authenticate once per browser session.) |
Step 5 |
SocialMiner captures all feeds on the page and filters them with icons indicating whether they are standard feeds or possible feeds. Some URLs may be filtered out of the list even if they meet the above criteria. For example, URLs that include embedded scripting will not be captured and displayed. |
Step 6 |
Select the link that you want to add as a feed. The SocialMiner window updates to indicate that the feed was saved, along with the name and URL of the feed. You see an error message if there was a problem saving the feed. |
Step 7 |
Close and re-open the feed bookmarklet for each URL in the list that you want to save. You see an error if you try to save a duplicate feed (a feed with the same name as one that is already saved). |
Step 8 |
After saving the feed(s), navigate to the SocialMiner Configuration tab. The feeds are displayed in the Feeds panel. Feed names are truncated at 85 characters. |
Step 9 |
Edit the name, description, polling interval, and minimum age of the feeds and add automatic tags. Feeds created using the bookmarklet default to "No reply template". |
Step 10 |
Add the feeds to a campaign. |