Finding the First Instance of Events on User-Generated URLs

Hi Tobias, Please stand by as I search the Mixpanel knowledge base for an AI-powered answer. I normally take about 15 seconds or so. In case AI cannot answer your question, feel free to reach out to Mixpanel support at mixpanel.com/get-support. If you have follow-up questions for this thread, please tag me again with your question: @kapa.ai <follow-up question> 👋

To find the first instance of any event on a new URL, especially when the URLs can be user-generated, you can use Mixpanel's First Time Filter feature along with some best practices for handling URLs. Here's how you can approach this: 1. Use the First Time Filter: Mixpanel provides a First Time Filter that allows you to analyze the first instance of an event performed by a user. This feature can be applied to any event in Mixpanel.Analyzing First Time Users explains: "You can do this by adding a First Time Filter to any event in Mixpanel. This filters the event down to only the first instance of the event performed by a user."2. Handle User-Generated URLs: For user-generated URLs, it's recommended to parse the URL and track its components separately. This approach is more useful for analysis and helps avoid issues with long strings.Common Issues suggests: "URLs: We recommend parsing the URL and tracking its individual components (host, path, url params) as properties. This is more useful in analysis, as you can segment events by hostname or a particular URL parameter."By combining these approaches, you can: 1. Parse the user-generated URLs into components (e.g., host, path, parameters). 2. Track these URL components as separate properties with your events. 3. Use the First Time Filter on your event, which will give you the first instance of that event for each user. 4. Analyze the results, focusing on the URL component properties to identify new URLs.This method allows you to identify the first instance of events on new URLs while avoiding issues with long strings and making your analysis more flexible and powerful.

ℹ️ Tip: Mention @kapa.ai in the thread for follow-ups or DM the app for 1-to-1 help.