: Can I use Google Analytics for long-polling my visitors? I'm running an online music compilation archive. Visitors can download and stream the audio. When streaming, visitors are able to keep

@Cugini213

You can set a timer and have it trigger a GA event. There are two ways to implement this, depending on how you want to read the data.


Tag Manager timers. Set intervals: 30 seconds, 1 minute, 2 minute, 5 minute, etc. Set up an event report for each and attach it to a trigger that fires after x number of seconds.
Rather than set up timed intervals, you can create a script that'll poll with events.


As a long winded example (requires analytics.js has been loaded):

// This will count the number of times the function runs.
pageTimer = 0;
// Periodically run the function
window.setInterval(function(){
// Increment the counter
pageTimer = pageTimer + 1
// Assumes it runs every 30 seconds
theNow = pageTimer * 30
ga('send', {
hitType: 'event',
eventCategory: 'Timer',
eventAction: theNow + ' seconds on page',
eventLabel: 'Video name?'
});
}, 30000); // Run every 30 seconds


That code should be optimised before use - I've written it the long way to demonstrate it's workings.

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@Hamaas447

The real time reports show users who are currently active and doing some activity. The reason why users disappear is because they are inactive for 30 mins and their session times out.

One thing you can do is increase your session duration to 3 hours

here's how you can increase your session duration support.google.com/analytics/answer/2795871?hl=en
and real time reporting support.google.com/analytics/answer/1638635?hl=en
secondly you can use the user id view in GA support.google.com/analytics/answer/3123662?hl=en
Here's how you can setup user id view support.google.com/analytics/answer/3123666?hl=en

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