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How to monitor social media interactions with Google Analytics 4
“Hey there,
So I was using Universal Analytics (it has since been deprecated). There, I had my way around tracking share events. Here’s the code of how I was doing it:
`js
gtag(‘event’, ‘facebook’, {
‘event_category’: ‘share’,
‘event_label’: ‘abc123’,
});
`Then, to get the share data count, I queried like this:
`php
// endpoint: https://analyticsreporting.googleapis.com/v4/reports:batchGet
…
‘metrics’ => [
[‘expression’ => ‘ga:totalEvents’]
],
‘dimensions’ => [
[‘name’ => ‘ga:eventLabel’],
[‘name’ => ‘ga:eventAction’],
],
`Alright, but now, we have Firebase Analytics, powered by Google Analytics 4. So, they give some recommendation [here](https://firebase.google.com/docs/reference/android/com/google/firebase/analytics/FirebaseAnalytics.Event#SHARE), and a mirror of it can be found [here](https://developers.google.com/analytics/devguides/collection/ga4/reference/events?client_type=gtag#share) with this example:
`js
gtag(“event”, “share”, {
method: “Twitter”,
content_type: “image”,
item_id: “abc123”,
});
`For querying this data, there’s a new API [here](https://developers.google.com/analytics/devguides/reporting/data/v1). They’ve also listed dimensions and metrics [here](https://developers.google.com/analytics/devguides/reporting/data/v1/api-schema). These include
eventName,itemId,method,contentType,eventValue, andeventCount.Here’s my issue – I can’t figure out how to use this new API to generate a report where event count is broken down like this:
| Event Method | Item Id | Count |
|————–|———|——-|
| Twitter | abc123 | 6 |
| Twitter | xyz987 | 27 |
| Facebook | abc123 | 14 |The real trouble is that I can’t seem to get the event counts by
itemIdat all.Oh! A recent announcement [here](https://developers.google.com/analytics/devguides/reporting/data/v1/changelog#2022-09-13_schema_compatibility_changes_announcement) states “Item-scoped dimensions like
itemNameare becoming incompatible with event-scoped metrics likeeventCount.” I think this might play a role in the problem.Any ideas? Thanks!”
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2 Replies
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It seems like your issue is indeed tied to the schema compatibility changes announcement. Per the change, item-scoped dimensions like
itemNameanditemIdare no longer compatible with event-scoped metrics likeeventCountin the same query. Therefore, generating a report that directly correlatesitemIdandeventCountin the same table is no longer feasible in the manner it was before this change. You may have to restructure your event tracking to account for these changes or you could potentially consider creating multiple reports (one for event count and another for item details) and then manually cross-referencing them. You might also consider looking into whether there are alternate events or metrics that can be used which haven’t been affected by the schema changes. Google’s documentation or support might provide further guidance specific to your case. -
From your explanation, it appears you’re trying to break down your event counts by
itemId. However, you’re facing an issue because the recently announced schema compatibility changes make it impossible as item-scoped dimensions likeitemNameare incompatible with event-scoped metrics likeeventCount. Unfortunately, with these new changes, you might not be able to have the breakdown you desire without some modifications in your data tracking or analysis process.You might need to adjust how you track these events, perhaps by incorporating information about
itemIdinto a different parameter that is compatible witheventCountfor analysis. Alternatively, you might need to reconsider the necessity of having a breakdown byitemIdunder these circumstances. Given the limitations of the new schema compatibility changes, you might find value in conducting a broader analysis of your event counts without such granularity. If you’re really having trouble, reaching out to Google Analytics’ support team or community forums might yield some insightful solutions.
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