Description
Sophi.io is a suite of artificial intelligence (AI) tools developed by The Globe and Mail to help content publishers make important strategic and tactical decisions. The tools range from automated content curation engines to predictive analytics and paywall solutions.
Sophi-driven pages outperform human curated pages by a significant margin and free up publisher resources so that they can focus on finding the next story that matters. Invisible, automated curation of your home and section pages to streamline your team’s workflow. Continuously optimize the performance characteristics of the site based on demand and your brand, so the content is always the right fit.
Note that a Sophi.io account and related credentials are required in order to authorize and authenticate access within the plugin settings.
Highlights of Sophi.io service
- An automation platform capable of transforming your business.
- State of the art natural language processing to enable prediction and optimization.
- Tomorrow’s publishers rely on Sophi to better understand their audience and make sure every pixel is used to drive value efficiently and effectively.
- Sophi Automation: Automates your digital content curation to display your most valuable content in the most valuable places on your website, on social media and in newsletters.
- Sophi Dive: Uses your historical data to help content publishers and editors determine what content to produce more or less of and what to stop doing all together — which enables intelligent decision-making around resource allocation.
- Sophi Now: Equips you with analytics that provide real-time, tactical decision support that can tell you what content to promote more prominently, or less prominently; find out what’s over-performing and underperforming on a particular page; and find out why a particular article is doing well or not (for example, is it driving subscriptions, helping retain subscribers, getting traction on social media, search or newsletters, etc.) and where readers are coming from and going next on your website.
- Sophi Next: Flags a short list of articles that have just been published (but not promoted anywhere) that are likely to be your most valuable content going forward. This helps editors decide which headlines to place on a particular page — helping them find the hidden gems.
- Sophi for Paywalls: A fully dynamic, real-time paywall engine that understands both content and users and can optimize for several outcomes and offers simultaneously.
Usage
There are two potential ways to integrate Sophi Site Automation results with your WordPress site. The default approach includes a Sophi Site Automation block that integrates with get_posts
by injecting Posts IDs via the posts_pre_query
filter that gets fetched later to return the actual Posts. In the same fashion, you can integrate Sophi results with your WP_Query
object by setting the sophi_curated_page
and sophi_curated_widget
query parameters.
More details on each of these two options are described below. If you are not certain on the best integration approach, considering the following:
Reasons to use the Site Automation block:
– No additional development effort needed for initial Sophi integration
– Immediate integration with Sophi Site Automation API and page/widget settings
– Basic block display settings allow for basic configurations (show/hide post excerpt, author name, post date, featured image)
Reasons to use the Query integration:
– Can implement more custom caching and content fallback options
– Can implement support into non-block editor setups
– Likely more flexible for headless setups
– Block editor is not in-use within your WordPress environment
– You need an integration with Category/Taxonomy Pages and cannot integrate using a sidebar widget
Site Automation block
You can utilize the Site Automation block by configuring the Site Automation page and widget names and adjusting block content and post meta settings to display Site Automation content on your site.
The Site Automation block comes with a barebone HTML output and styling. It’s made to be filtered using sophi_site_automation_block_output
.
add_filter(
'sophi_site_automation_block_output',
function( $output, $curated_posts, $attributes, $content, $block ) {
// ...
return $new_output;
},
10,
5
);
The Site Automation block will automatically add a data-sophi-feature=<widget_name>
attribute for the rendered HTML content so Sophi can understand what content section is rendered on your site.
Query integration
The Site Automation block uses query integration under the hood. You can query for Sophi curated articles by passing sophi_curated_page
and sophi_curated_widget
to your WP_Query queries.
$the_query = new WP_Query( [
'sophi_curated_page' => 'page-name',
'sophi_curated_widget' => 'widget-name',
] );
Note that you need to add data-sophi-feature=<widget_name>
to the wrapper div of your post for Sophi to capture your widget better.
<div class="posts-wrapper" data-sophi-feature="trending">
<!-- Post lists -->
</div>
Caveats
WordPress VIP and `WP_Query`
While the above query integration works just fine, it has been observed on WordPress VIP infrastructure that WP_Query
may return latest posts instead of the posts curated by Sophi due to the Advanced Post Cache plugin used by the VIP platform. A workaround for this is to use get_posts()
instead and as good practice to add a comment explaining the usage of it so that developers new to it don’t swap it for WP_Query
. Also remember to whitelist get_posts
by adding the following inline comment so that PHPCS doesn’t throw a warning:
phpcs:ignore WordPressVIPMinimum.Functions.RestrictedFunctions.get_posts_get_posts<h3>Developer Documentation</h3>
Sophi for WordPress has an in-depth documentation site that details the available actions and filters found within the plugin. Visit the developer docs ☞
Debugging
If you are having difficulties with your Sophi integration, then we recommend utilizing the Debug Bar for Sophi plugin to help triage your Sophi Authentication, Sophi API integration, and CMS publish/update events.
Screenshots
Blocks
This plugin provides 2 blocks.
- Sophi Recommended Post
- Site Automation
Installation
Note that if you are on the WordPress VIP platform that you will not be able to upload a plugin in the WordPress Admin so you will need to follow steps in 1b.
1a Download plugin ZIP file and upload to your site.
You can upload and install the plugin ZIP file via the WordPress dashboard (Plugins
> Add New
-> Upload Plugin
) or manually inside of the wp-content/plugins
directory, and activate on the Plugins dashboard.
1b Download or Clone this repo, install dependencies, and build.
– git clone https://github.com/globeandmail/sophi-for-wordpress.git && cd sophi-for-wordpress
– composer install && npm install && npm run build
2 Activate Plugin
Click the Activate
link after installing the plugin.
3 Configure plugin settings
Go to Settings
> Sophi
in the WordPress Admin and enter your Sophi Collector and Site Automation credentials supplied by the Sophi.io team. Click Save Changes
button to validate and save your credentials.
Once your credentials are validated and saved, your site is officially supercharged by the Sophi.io Site Automation service. You also have access to Sophi for WordPress’ powerful WP_Query parameters and custom Sophi Site Automation block, which enables you to utilize Site Automation to power the content curation on your site.
FAQ
-
How was Sophi created?
-
The award-winning Sophi suite of solutions was developed by The Globe and Mail to help content publishers make important strategic and tactical decisions that transform their business. It is a suite of ML and NLP-powered tools that includes Sophi Automation for content curation, Sophi for Paywalls, and Sophi Analytics – a decision-support system for publishers.
-
How well does Sophi Automation perform?
-
The Globe and Mail saw a dramatic improvement in the business metrics that matter:
* Click-through rates were up 17% from the homepage.
* The subscriber acquisition rate increased by more than 10%.
* Not a single reader has complained or asked if a computer is curating the website.You can read more details in The Globe and Mail case study.
-
What Privacy and Terms govern Sophi.io?
-
The same Privacy & Terms that govern The Globe and Mail cover the Sophi.io service.
Reviews
There are no reviews for this plugin.
Contributors & Developers
“Sophi” is open source software. The following people have contributed to this plugin.
ContributorsTranslate “Sophi” into your language.
Interested in development?
Browse the code, check out the SVN repository, or subscribe to the development log by RSS.
Changelog
1.3.2 – 2023-06-16
- Changed: Bump WordPress “tested up to” version 6.2 (props @iamdharmesh, @Sidsector9 via #384).
- Security: Update dependency
phpunit/phpunit
from 9.5.25 to 9.5.27 (props @renovate, @jeffpaul via #349, #369). - Security: Update dependency
10up-toolkit
from 4.3.0.to 4.3.1 (props @renovate, @jeffpaul via #366). - Security: Update dependency
loader-utils
from 2.0.2 to 2.0.4 (props @dependabot, @jeffpaul via #367). - Security: Update dependency
actions/checkout
from 3.1.0 to 3.5.3 (props @renovate, @jeffpaul, @iamdharmesh via #370, #375). - Security: Update dependency
@wordpress/icons
from 9.10.0 to 9.14.0 (props @renovate, @jeffpaul via #344). - Security: Update dependency
snowplow/snowplow-tracker
from 0.5.0 to 0.6.1 (props @renovate, @jeffpaul, @YMufleh via #372). - Security: Update dependency
json5
from 1.0.1 to 1.0.2 (props @renovate, @iamdharmesh via #374). - Security: Update dependency
dns-packet
from 5.3.1 to 5.6.0 (props @renovate, @iamdharmesh via #385). - Security: Update dependency
webpack
from 5.72.1 to 5.87.0 (props @renovate, @iamdharmesh via #386).
1.3.1 – 2022-11-10
- Changed: Mapping for
sectionNames
field to reflect Primary Category or first Category (props @Sidsector9, @cadic, @jeffpaul, @vjayaseelan90, @dkotter via #350, #363). - Changed: Update our configured check to be smarter (props @dkotter, @vjayaseelan90, @jeffpaul via #361).
- Removed: Comment out the override settings for now (props @dkotter, @jeffpaul via #362).
- Fixed: Ensure we have an array of items before iterating over them (props @dkotter, @jeffpaul via #362).
- Fixed: Ensure we send tracking events when the Yoast featured category data is saved (props @dkotter, @jeffpaul via #365).
1.3.0 – 2022-10-28
Note that this version bumps the minimum WordPress version from 5.6 to 6.0 and adds an integration with the Sophi Override feature.
- Added: Override feature to the Sophi Site Automation Block (props @faisal-alvi, @jeffpaul, @fabiankaegy, @dkotter, @peterwilsoncc via #333, #345).
- Added: [GET]
/wp-json/sophi/v1/site-automation
WP REST endpoint to Get Posts from Site Automation (props @faisal-alvi, @jeffpaul, @fabiankaegy, @dkotter, @peterwilsoncc via #333). - Added: [POST]
/wp-json/sophi/v1/site-automation-override
WP REST endpoint to Override the Posts for Site Automation (props @faisal-alvi, @jeffpaul, @fabiankaegy, @dkotter, @peterwilsoncc via #333). - Added:
api_version
to the block JSON files (props @faisal-alvi via #345). - Added: Display message when no posts are returned from Sophi Site Automation (props @faisal-alvi via #345).
- Added: Functionality to remove old error messages when posts are found (props @faisal-alvi via #345).
- Added: Tracker Address option on plugin settings page (props @faisal-alvi, @YMufleh, @jeffpaul via #342).
- Added: New tutorial for modifying tracking data on documentation site (props @iamdharmesh, @YMufleh, @dkotter via #327).
- Changed: Bump minimum WordPress version from 5.6 to 6.0 (props @faisal-alvi via #346).
- Changed: Sophi Site Automation Block from a server-side-rendered custom block to a nested block (props @faisal-alvi, @jeffpaul, @fabiankaegy, @dkotter, @peterwilsoncc via #333, #345).
- Changed: Replaced hardcoded tracker endpoint value with the new Tracker Address setting (props @faisal-alvi, @YMufleh, @jeffpaul via #342).
- Changed: Developer Documentation updates (props @iamdharmesh, @jeffpaul, @faisal-alvi via #332, #333).
- Fixed: Prevent duplicate CMS publish/update event tracking (props @cadic, @peterwilsoncc, @jeffpaul via #335).
- Security: Added latest PHPCompatibility checks for PHP 8.0 (props @Sidsector9 via #331).
- Security: Update dependency
phpunit/phpunit
from 8.5.29 to 9.5.25 (props @renovate, @Sidsector9, @faisal-alvi via #329, #337, #339). - Security: Update dependency
10up-toolkit
from 4.1.2 to 4.3.0 (props @renovate, @Sidsector9, @faisal-alvi via #330, #340). - Security: Update
actions/checkout
action from v2 to v3 and v3.0.2 to v3.1.0 (props @renovate via #334).
1.2.1 – 2022-08-30
- Changed: Bump
content_update
schema from 2-0-3 to 2-0-5 (props @jeffpaul, @vjayaseelan90, @YMufleh via #323). - Security: Update dependency
jsdoc
from 3.6.10 to 3.6.11 (props @renovate via #311). - Security: Bump
terser
from 5.13.1 to 5.14.2 (props @dependabot via #312). - Security: Update dependency
phpunit/phpunit
from 8.5.27 to 8.5.29 (props @renovate via #316).
1.2.0 – 2022-08-15
- Added: New Curator API (props @Sidsector9, @dinhtungdu via #310.
- Added: Documentation on default handling of Sophi API empty array response (props @jeffpaul, @oscarssanchez via #307.
- Added: New tutorial sections added to the documentation site (props @dkotter, @YMufleh via #318.
- Changed: Instead of storing responses from Sophi in an option, store that in a new CPT,
sophi-response
(props @oscarssanchez, @cadic, @felipeelia via #298. - Changed: Replaces
WP_Query
withget_posts
in details about the Sophi Automation block (props @Sidsector9, @jeffpaul via #300. - Removed: Dependency on Auth0 and replaced with the new Curator API (props @Sidsector9, @dinhtungdu via #310.
- Fixed: Ensure we are properly getting cached responses (props @oscarssanchez, @Sidsector9, @felipeelia via #305.
- Security: Added PHP compatibility checker (props @Sidsector9, @dkotter via #317.
- Security: Update dependency
10up-toolkit
from v4.0.0 to v4.1.2 (props @renovate, @Sidsector9 via #299, #303. - Security: Update dependency
phpunit/phpunit
from v8.5.26 to v8.5.27 (props @renovate via #304.
1.1.3 – 2022-05-27
- Added: WordPress and Sophi plugin versions to Javascript and AMP Tracking (props @oscarssanchez, @jeffpaul, @YMufleh via #287).
- Added: Documentation for
sophi_cache_duration
filter (props @Sidsector9, @barryceelen, @jeffpaul via #285). - Added: Unit tests (props @cadic via #291).
- Changed: Reverted response saving back to options table from post meta field (props @oscarssanchez via #280).
- Changed: Replace deprecated
block_categories
filter withblock_categories_all
(props @Sidsector9, @cadic, @jeffpaul via #292). - Changed: Bump WordPress “tested up to” version 6.0 (props @Sidsector9, @jeffpaul via #293).
- Fixed: Fatal error on tracking a post with empty content (props @cadic via #289).
- Fixed: Warning shown due to access of undefined array (props @Sidsector9, @cadic, @jeffpaul via #292).
- Fixed: Warning on Widget page via check before accessing property (props @Sidsector9 via #295).
- Fixed: PHPCS check and linting issues (props @cadic via #291).
1.1.2 – 2022-05-18
- Fixed: Incorrect posts rendered due to wrong transient name (props @Sidsector9, @cadic).
1.1.1 – 2022-05-17
- Added:
sophi_bypass_curated_posts_cache
filter to bypess curated posts cache (props @cadic). - Added: Send all Categories in new
allSections
field to Sophi (props @oscarssanchez, @jeffpaul, @tott). - Changed:
$result
is used instead of$request
to store return value of thesophi_request_result
filter (props @faisal-alvi, @Sidsector9, @cadic). - Changed: Suppress Emitter debug output and writing logs (props @cadic).
- Fixed: Hook Docs deployment GitHub Action and included filter docs (props @iamdharmesh, @jeffpaul, @cadic).
1.1.0 – 2022-05-06
- Added: Filter
sophi_request_args
filters arguments used in Sophi HTTP request (props @cadic, @iamdharmesh via #257). - Added: Filter
sophi_request_result
filters a Sophi HTTP request immediately after the response is received (props @cadic, @iamdharmesh via #257, #261). - Added: Filter
sophi_cms_tracking_request_data
filters the data used in Sophi track event request (props @cadic, @iamdharmesh, @jeffpaul via #257, #263). - Added: Action
sophi_cms_tracking_result
fires after tracker sends the request (props @cadic, @iamdharmesh, @jeffpaul via #257, #263). - Added: Filter
sophi_tracker_emitter_debug
allows to enable debug mode in the tracking emitter (props @cadic, @iamdharmesh via #257). - Added: Documentation on rational for block vs. custom query integration uses and
WP_Query
caveat on WordPress VIP (props @Sidsector9, @jeffpaul, @oscarssanchez via #242, #249, #251). - Changed: Update response saving from options table to post meta field (props @Rahmon, @oscarssanchez via #253).
- Changed: Bump WordPress “tested up to” version 5.9 (props @jeffpaul via #248).
- Changed: Updated hookdocs site (now Developer Docs) to properly run on release and migrate in docs from readme (props @iamdharmesh, @jeffpaul via #256).
- Fixed: Check if
$terms
is an array before usingcount()
withinget_the_terms()
(props @barryceelen, @Sidsector9 via #215). - Fixed: Update
track_event
arguments list insidesync
WP-CLI command (props @cadic, @Sidsector9 via #250). - Security: Update
actions/checkout
action to from v2.4.0 to v3.0.2 (props @renovate, @iamdharmesh via #240, #241, #243). - Security: Update
actions/setup-node
action from v1 to v3 (props @renovate, @iamdharmesh via #244). - Security: Update dependency
10up-toolkit
from 3.1.2 to 4.0.0 (props @renovate, @cadic via #264).
1.0.13 – 2022-04-20
- Changed:
keywords
data type from string to array (props @iamdharmesh, @jeffpaul, @oscarssanchez, @YMufleh). - Security: Bump
node-forge
from 1.2.1 to 1.3.0 (props @dependabot). - Security: Bump
minimist
from 1.2.5 to 1.2.6 (props @dependabot). - Security: Update dependency
10up-toolkit
from 3.0.3 to 3.1.2 (props @renovate). - Security: Update dependency
phpunit/phpunit
from 8.5.25 to 8.5.26 (props @renovate). - Security: Bump
async
from 2.6.3 to 2.6.4 (props @dependabot).
1.0.12 – 2022-03-23
- Fixed: PHP fatal error when duplicating posts across sites (props @YMufleh).
- Security: Update dependency
phpunit/phpunit
from 8.5.23 to 8.5.25 (props @renovate). - Security: Update dependency
10up-toolkit
from 3.0.2 to 3.0.3 (props @renovate).
1.0.11 – 2022-03-03
- Changed: Update
package-lock.json
(props @jeffpaul). - Security: Update
actions/setup-node
action from v2 to v3 (props @renovate). - Security: Update
actions/checkout
action from v2 to v3 (props @renovate). - Security: Update dependency
10up-toolkit
from 2.1.1 to 3.0.2 (props @renovate).
1.0.10 – 2022-02-28
- Changed: Sets the default timeout of the first Sophi request and the cron request to 3 seconds (props @oscarssanchez, @barryceelen, @felipeelia, @tott).
- Security: Update dependency
snowplow/snowplow-tracker
from 0.4.0 to 0.5.0 (props @renovate).
1.0.9 – 2022-02-18
- Added:
hostname
andpath
fields to schema (props @Rahmon, @dinhtungdu). - Added: –
sophi_curated_post_list
filter to modify the Sophi API response to allow manual posts to be injected previous to returning the filterable value fromposts_pre_query
(e.g., via a fallback method to inject posts that would be a good fit) (props @oscarssanchez, @barryceelen, @felipeelia). - Fixed: Sophi API empty Post ID array response changed from using
WP_Query
default results to a “no results” response (props @oscarssanchez, @barryceelen, @felipeelia). - Security: Update dependency
phpunit/phpunit
from 8.5.21 to 8.5.23 (props @renovate). - Security: Update dependency
prop-types
from 15.8.0 to 15.8.1 (props @renovate). - Security: Update dependency
10up-toolkit
from1.0.13
to2.1.1
(props @renovate, @oscarssanchez, @jeffpaul). - Security: Update dependency
marked
from 2.1.3 to 4.0.10 (props @renovate). - Security: Update dependency
jsdoc
from 3.6.8 to 3.6.10 (props @renovate). - Security: Update dependency
dealerdirect/phpcodesniffer-composer-installer
from 0.7.1 to 0.7.2 (props @renovate).
1.0.8 – 2021-12-23
- Changed: Updated
auth_url
andaudience
parameters to get respective Staging and Development environment access tokens (props @Rahmon, @felipeelia). - Fixed: Issue where multiple Sophi blocks on the same page had duplicated content (props @Rahmon, @felipeelia, @jeffpaul, @dinhtungdu).
- Fixed: Testing environment deploy process (props @Rahmon, @felipeelia).
- Security: update dependency
prop-types
from 15.7.2 to 15.8.0 (props @renovate).
1.0.7 – 2021-10-29
- Changed: Sophi Auth URL value used for Production, Staging, and Development (props @jeffpaul, @barryceelen, @amckie).
- Changed: Sophi Site Automation API URL structure (props @rahmohn).
- Changed: Sophi Audience URL used in authorization (props @rahmohn).
1.0.6 – 2021-10-27
Note: this was a hotfix release to fix an issue with deploys to WordPress.org.
1.0.5 – 2021-10-27
- Added: New content fields sent to Sophi
thumbnailImageUri
,embeddedImagesCount
, andkeywords
(props @rahmohn, @felipeelia, @dinhtungdu). - Changed: Updated name convention for
appId
(props @rahmohn, @felipeelia, @dinhtungdu). - Changed: Send WordPress Categories to Sophi in
sectionNames
field (props @rahmohn, @jeffpaul, @felipeelia, @tott). - Changed: Updated JS tracking of the homepage from
article
tosection
content type (props @rahmohn, @felipeelia, @jeffpaul). - Changed: Updated
audience
URL (props @rahmohn, @jeffpaul). - Changed: Bump WordPress version “tested up to” 5.8 (props @rahmohn, @jeffpaul).
- Changed: Documentation (props @dkotter).
- Fixed: Stopped sending homepage (aka “page on front” or “page for posts”) content updates to Sophi (props @rahmohn, @felipeelia, @jeffpaul).
- Security: Update dependency
10up-toolkit
from 1.0.9 to 1.0.13 (props @renovate). - Security: Update dependency
phpunit/phpunit
from 8.5.18 to 8.5.21 (props @renovate). - Security: Update dependency
automattic/vipwpcs
from 2.3.2 to 2.3.3 (props @renovate).
1.0.4 – 2021-07-29
- Added: Support for Yoast canonical URL (props @dinhtungdu, @dkotter).
- Added: Configure WhiteSource Bolt and Renovate integrations (props @whitesource-bolt, @renovate).
- Changed: Updated AMP and JS tracking data, changed post data type to post content type (props @dinhtungdu).
- Changed: Update documentation, dependencies, and pin dependencies (props @jeffpaul, @dinhtungdu, @renovate).
- Fixed: Issue with empty
sectionNames
(props @dinhtungdu, @dkotter). - Fixed: Set
jsonschema
to 2.0.0 (props @dinhtungdu, @dkotter). - Fixed: Corrected variable name from
contentSize
tosize
(props @dinhtungdu). - Fixed: Sending publish events when Yoast SEO is activated (props @dinhtungdu).
- Fixed: Only use public taxonomies to build post breadcrumb (props @dinhtungdu).
- Fixed: Update events via Quick Edit are now sent to Sophi when Yoast SEO is activated (props @dinhtungdu).
- Security: Update dependency
@10up/scripts
from 1.3.1 to 1.3.4 (props @renovate). - Security: Update dependency
automattic/vipwpcs
from 2.3.0 to 2.3.2 (props @renovate). - Security: Update dependency
phpunit/phpunit
from 8.5.15 to 8.5.18 (props @renovate). - Security: Update
actions/setup-node
action from v1 to v2 (props @renovate). - Security: Update dependency
10up-toolkit
from 1.0.9 to 1.0.10 (props @renovate).
1.0.3 – 2021-06-15
- Added: Data attributes to Site Automation widgets/blocks (props @dinhtungdu, @dkotter).
- Changed: Revisions to tracking data collected to improve Site Automation results (props @dinhtungdu, @dkotter).
- Changed: Update default Collector URL helper text (props @barryceelen).
- Changed: Set default environment according to
wp_get_environment_type()
(props @barryceelen). - Fixed: Only load Snowplow analytics once Sophi plugin is configured (props @dinhtungdu, @dkotter, @barryceelen).
- Fixed: VIP CLI dry-run mode defaults to
false
, corrects sync limiting, adds progress bar (props @dinhtungdu, @jeffpaul, @barryceelen).
1.0.2 – 2021-04-26
- Changed: Bump
vipwpcs
from 2.2.0 to 2.3.0 andphp_codesniffer
from 3.5.8 to 3.6.0 (props @dinhtungdu, @jeffpaul). - Fixed: WP-CLI command now supports both WordPress VIP and non-VIP environments (props @dinhtungdu, @dkotter, @jeffpaul).
1.0.1 – 2021-04-23
- Added:
noConfigFile
setting (props @dinhtungdu). - Added: GitHub Actions to deploy releases and update readme/asset changes for WordPress.org (props @jeffpaul, @dinhtungdu).
- Changed: Renamed plugin from
Sophi for WordPress
toSophi
(props @jeffpaul). - Fixed: Minor fixes from WordPress VIP code scan (props @dkotter).
1.0.0 – 2021-04-14
- Initial public release! 🎉