Social Media Metrics: Google Analytics SDK Android App

By Leslie Poston from Social Media Metrics For Dummies

Tracking an application's metrics (an app) has simplified, but apps are inherently isolated still. You can track each app, but solutions are still being created to track all apps.

To get going with Google's Analytics SDK for your Android app, simply follow these steps:

Download the Google Analytics SDK for Android.
Add the library libGoogleanalytics.jar to your app project.

If this step leaves you scratching your head, don't worry. Your app developer will know what this means.
Add these permissions to the Android manifest of your app:
Create a distinctive website profile inside your Google Analytics account.

Most app developers simply create a false/fake website profile for this purpose.

You'll need the Web Property ID from this profile to track users anonymously. You'll also need to disclose that you're doing this to the users who sign up for and download your app.
Track your referring installs by making your links look like this:

You want to do this kind of tracking, especially if you have more than one way to download your app — for example, the market, an advertisement, or a website.
Go back into your app manifest and add this code as part of tracking referring installs:

These steps should bring metrics into your Android app. You can also get more detailed and track user activities within your app, but that requires quite a few more lines of code and some advanced knowledge of the SDK — something your app developer will likely already know how to do.

Grab the downloads you need to work with the Android SDK and to see some advanced tutorials.