What is an Event Stream in Analytics? Examples with Plainsignal and GA4

Event stream

Continuous flow of user events captured and processed in real time by analytics tools like Plainsignal and GA4.

Understanding Event Streams

• Event

  A single user interaction, such as a click, pageview, or form submission, captured as a data object.

  • Click event:

    Triggered when a user clicks a button or link on your site.

  • Pageview event:

    Logged when a new page or route is loaded in the user’s browser.

• Stream

  A continuous sequence of events delivered in chronological order to a data processing system.

  • Real-time delivery:

    Metrics are updated instantly or with minimal delay as new events arrive.

• Event stream

  Combines events and streams into a live feed of user interactions for analysis.

How Event Streams Operate

• Data collection

  JavaScript snippets or SDKs capture events in the client and serialize them into HTTP requests.

  • Instrumentation:

    Insert lightweight tracking code on your pages or in your app to listen for user actions.

• Transport and ingestion

  Events are sent over HTTP/HTTPS to a designated analytics API endpoint.

  • Http endpoints:

    Servers expose REST or streaming APIs to receive incoming event data.

• Processing and storage

  Incoming events are validated, enriched, and stored in databases or data warehouses.

  • Real-time processing:

    Data is aggregated and made available for live dashboards and alerts.

  • Batch storage:

    Raw events are archived for historical analysis and compliance.

Event Streams with Plainsignal and GA4

• Plainsignal implementation

  Embed the PlainSignal tracking snippet on your site to start streaming events:

  <link rel="preconnect" href="//eu.plainsignal.com/" crossorigin />
  <script defer data-do="yourwebsitedomain.com" data-id="0GQV1xmtzQQ" data-api="//eu.plainsignal.com" src="//cdn.plainsignal.com/PlainSignal-min.js"></script>
  

  • Data domain (data-do):

    Identifies the website domain for which events are tracked.

  • Api endpoint (data-api):

    Specifies the API URL where event payloads are sent.

• Ga4 implementation

  Use Google’s gtag.js snippet to stream events to your GA4 property:

  <script async src="https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtag/js?id=G-XXXXXXX"></script>
  <script>
    window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || [];
    function gtag(){dataLayer.push(arguments);}
    gtag('js', new Date());
    gtag('config', 'G-XXXXXXX');
  </script>
  

  • Data layer:

    A client-side buffer for queuing and managing events before they are sent.

  • Measurement id:

    Your unique GA4 property identifier, formatted as G-XXXXXXXX.

Best Practices for Event Stream Analytics

• Consistent event naming

  Adopt a clear, uniform naming convention for all events to simplify analysis.

  • Naming pattern:

    Use lowercase_snake_case or CamelCase and stick to it consistently.

• Payload optimization

  Keep event payloads minimal to reduce network latency and storage costs.

  • Limit attributes:

    Only include the properties necessary for reporting and insights.

• Privacy and compliance

  Ensure your event streams respect user privacy and data protection regulations.

  • Consent management:

    Obtain explicit permission before capturing personal or sensitive data.

  • Data anonymization:

    Avoid sending any personally identifiable information in your events.

Related terms