Social data analysis is a style of analysis in which people work in a social, collaborative context to make sense of data. The term was introduced by Martin Wattenberg in 2005 [1]
On a Social Data Analysis system or network, users store data sets and create visual representations. The datasets and visualisations/graphs are accessible to other users of the network or website. Users can create new and interesting visualisations/graphs as well as associated commentary from the same data sets. The discussion mechanisms often use frameworks such as a blog's and wiki's to drive this social exploration/Collaborative intelligence.
This is a new slant on business intelligence where social exploration of data can lead to serious analysis and important insight that the initiating user did not envisage/explore (for whatever reason).