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Building a Scalable Data Pipeline for Momspresso: Empowering Content Personalization

3 mins
Technology Data Engineering Data Pipeline Analytics Kafka PostgreSQL Python
Table of Contents

In the ever-evolving digital landscape, content platforms like Momspresso need robust data infrastructure to deliver personalized experiences to their users. Today, I’m excited to share insights into the scalable data pipeline we’ve built for Momspresso, which powers their analytics and recommendation systems.

The Challenge #

Momspresso needed a system that could:

  1. Capture user events in real-time
  2. Process and store large volumes of data efficiently
  3. Enable quick analysis and visualization of user behavior
  4. Support a recommendation engine for personalized content delivery

Our Solution: A Comprehensive Data Pipeline #

We designed a multi-component data pipeline that addresses these needs:

1. Python Events SDK #

We developed a simple Python class that can be integrated across Momspresso’s codebase. This SDK allows the system to push events without writing underlying code, making it easy for developers to track user interactions.

2. Event Web Service #

This service receives events from the SDK and pushes them to Kafka after minor validation. It acts as the entry point for all user interaction data.

3. Apache Kafka #

We chose Kafka as our message broking and pub-sub system for its high throughput and fault-tolerant design. Currently running on a single machine, it’s ready to scale as Momspresso grows.

4. Data Capture System #

This component listens for all events from Kafka and inserts them into a PostgreSQL database. By using Postgres’s JSON capabilities, we’ve created a flexible and queryable dataset.

5. PostgreSQL Event Store #

Our primary data store for all events. We’ve implemented a monthly archival system to manage storage efficiently.

6. Grafana for Real-time Analytics #

Connected to our event store, Grafana allows Momspresso to graph real-time queries, track feature usage, monitor conversion performance, and detect anomalies.

7. Data View System #

This component runs a series of heuristics and models to define user attributes, updating a separate User View database.

8. PostgreSQL Data View Database #

This database stores the processed user views, allowing quick access to derived user data.

9. Metabase for Dashboards #

Using the Data View database, Metabase allows Momspresso to create custom dashboards and reports using SQL queries.

10. Unique Userprint Web Service #

A clever 1x1 pixel service that assigns a unique signature in a cookie for each user, allowing us to track users across sessions.

The Power of This Pipeline #

This data pipeline empowers Momspresso in several ways:

  1. Real-time Insights: Momspresso can now track user behavior and content performance in real-time.
  2. Personalization: The structured user data enables sophisticated content recommendation algorithms.
  3. Flexible Analysis: With data stored in queryable formats, Momspresso can perform ad-hoc analyses easily.
  4. Scalability: The modular design allows individual components to be scaled or replaced as needed.

Looking Ahead #

As Momspresso continues to grow, this data pipeline will play a crucial role in understanding user behavior and delivering personalized experiences. We’re excited to see how Momspresso will leverage this infrastructure to enhance their platform and engage their community more effectively.

Stay tuned for our next post, where we’ll dive into the recommendation system built on top of this data pipeline!

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