Media monitoring

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Media monitoring is the activity of monitoring the output of the print, online and broadcast media. [1] It is based on analyzing a diverse range of media platforms in order to identify trends that can be used for a variety of reasons such as political, commercial and scientific purposes.

Contents

It can be conducted in a systematic way by comparing the content presented in the media with external sources, in an attempt of fact-checking, or in a less formal and time demanding manner by independent groups and media critics that aim to check the quality of what is available on the media, especially related to press freedom and focusing on the concept of responsibilizing the media organizations. In general, media monitoring focuses on developing insights, in various fields, of what is actually occurring while finding the balance to not overanalyze certain factors. [2]

In business

In the commercial sphere, media monitoring is usually carried out in-house or by a media monitoring service company that can provide such services on a subscription basis.

The services that media monitoring companies provide typically include the systematic recording of radio and television broadcasts, social media, web-TV, the collection of press clippings from print media publications and the collection of data from online information sources. The material collected usually consists of any media output that makes reference to the client, its activities and its designated topics of interests. The monitoring of online consumer sources such as blogs, forums and social networks is more specifically known as buzz monitoring which informs the company of how its service or product is perceived by users. [3]

Most media monitoring is done within private public relations agencies or businesses in house public relations sectors. Publicists will track the number of times the company was mentioned within different platforms, including magazines, newspapers, blogs, and social media. These entries are referred to as “clippings” and are compiled into monthly reports by the Public Relations firm and then presented to the client along with the circulation and impressions from these platforms. Circulation is how many subscribers or viewers the platform has, and impressions are calculated by multiplying the circulation by three. [4] Impressions are only calculated for print media because it is assumed print media will be circulated past the original subscribers. These figures are calculated to show the client approximately how many people their message has reached. [5]

In social sciences

Media monitoring is often deployed by social scientists to look at how something is presented in different media all over the globe. They often look for common biases in how an event is portrayed in the many different types of media. The use of large-scale monitoring techniques by computer scientists enabled the exploration of different aspects of the media system such as the visualisation of the media-sphere, [6] the sentimental and objectivity analysis of news content. [7]

In 2021, media monitoring proved to be useful in the COVID-19 vaccine rollout, as it allowed social scientists to analyze the sentiment surrounding vaccines among the populace. They collected information from various articles and posts on social media from around the internet related to vaccines, which helped them capture and compile people's various complex opinions on vaccinations. Social media interactivity, such as likes, comments, and retweets, also contributed to the study, as they helped indicate whether or not a post was in agreement with the opinion of the general population. [8]

Technologies involved

Media monitoring is practically achieved by a combination of technologies—including audio and video recording, high speed text scanners and text recognition software—and human readers and analysts. The automation of the process is highly desirable and can be partially achieved by deploying data mining and machine learning techniques. These technologies compile and index data from all types of online media sites, such as Twitter, Instagram, and Reddit, which allows for a user to search for specific data on these sites, such as brands, mentions, and opinions, in a more streamlined, simple way.

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Public relations</span> Management of public communication of organizations

Public relations (PR) is the practice of managing and disseminating information from an individual or an organization to the public in order to influence their perception. Public relations and publicity differ in that PR is controlled internally, whereas publicity is not controlled and contributed by external parties. Public relations may include an organization or individual gaining exposure to their audiences using topics of public interest and news items that do not require direct payment. The exposure is mostly media-based, and this differentiates it from advertising as a form of marketing communications. Public relations aims to create or obtain coverage for clients for free, also known as earned media, rather than paying for marketing or advertising also known as paid media. But in the early 21st century, advertising is also a part of broader PR activities.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Digital media</span> Any media that are encoded in machine-readable formats

In mass communication, digital media is any communication media that operates in conjunction with various encoded machine-readable data formats. Digital content can be created, viewed, distributed, modified, listened to, and preserved on a digital electronic device, including digital data storage media and digital broadcasting. Digital is defined as any data represented by a series of digits, and media refers to methods of broadcasting or communicating this information. Together, digital media refers to mediums of digitized information broadcast through a screen and/or a speaker. This also includes text, audio, video, and graphics that are transmitted over the internet for viewing or listening to on the internet.

Reputation management, originally a public relations term, refers to the influencing, controlling, enhancing, or concealing of an individual's or group's reputation. The growth of the internet and social media led to growth of reputation management companies, with search results as a core part of a client's reputation. Online reputation management, sometimes abbreviated as ORM, focuses on the management of product and service search engine results.

A media monitoring service, a press clipping service or a clipping service as known in earlier times, provides clients with copies of media content, which is of specific interest to them and subject to changing demand; what they provide may include documentation, content, analysis, or editorial opinion, specifically or widely. These services tend to specialize their coverage by subject, industry, size, geography, publication, journalist, or editor. The printed sources, which could be readily monitored, greatly expanded with the advent of telegraphy and submarine cables in the mid- to late-19th century; the various types of media now available proliferated in the 20th century, with the development of radio, television, the photocopier and the World Wide Web. Though media monitoring is generally used for capturing content or editorial opinion, it also may be used to capture advertising content.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Web 2.0</span> World Wide Web sites that use technology beyond the static pages of earlier Web sites

Web 2.0 refers to websites that emphasize user-generated content, ease of use, participatory culture and interoperability for end users.

Mass communication is the process of imparting and exchanging information through mass media to large population segments. It utilizes various forms of media as technology has made the dissemination of information more efficient. Primary examples of platforms utilized and examined include journalism and advertising. Mass communication, unlike interpersonal communication and organizational communication, focuses on particular resources transmitting information to numerous receivers. The study of mass communication is chiefly concerned with how the content and information that is being mass communicated persuades or affects the behavior, attitude, opinion, or emotion of people receiving the information.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">News aggregator</span> Client software that aggregates syndicated web content

In computing, a news aggregator, also termed a feed aggregator, content aggregator, feed reader, news reader, or simply an aggregator, is client software or a web application that aggregates digital content such as online newspapers, blogs, podcasts, and video blogs (vlogs) in one location for easy viewing. The updates distributed may include journal tables of contents, podcasts, videos, and news items.

Web analytics is the measurement, collection, analysis, and reporting of web data to understand and optimize web usage. Web analytics is not just a process for measuring web traffic but can be used as a tool for business and market research and assess and improve website effectiveness. Web analytics applications can also help companies measure the results of traditional print or broadcast advertising campaigns. It can be used to estimate how traffic to a website changes after launching a new advertising campaign. Web analytics provides information about the number of visitors to a website and the number of page views, or create user behavior profiles. It helps gauge traffic and popularity trends, which is useful for market research.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">User-generated content</span> Online content created by users

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Social media</span> Virtual online communities

Social media are interactive technologies that facilitate the creation, sharing and aggregation of content, ideas, interests, and other forms of expression through virtual communities and networks. Social media refers to new forms of media that involve interactive participation. While challenges to the definition of social media arise due to the variety of stand-alone and built-in social media services currently available, there are some common features:

  1. Social media apps are online platforms that enable users to create and share content and participate in social networking.
  2. User-generated content—such as text posts or comments, digital photos or videos, and data generated through all online interactions—is the lifeblood of social media.
  3. Users create service-specific profiles for the website or app that are designed and maintained by the social media organization.
  4. Social media helps the development of online social networks by connecting a user's profile with those of other individuals or groups.

Social media optimization (SMO) is the use of a number of outlets and communities to generate publicity to increase the awareness of a product, service brand or event. Types of social media involved include RSS feeds, social news, bookmarking sites, and social networking sites such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, video sharing websites, and blogging sites. SMO is similar to search engine optimization (SEO) in that the goal is to generate web traffic and increase awareness for a website. SMO's focal point is on gaining organic links to social media content. In contrast, SEO's core is about reaching the top of the search engine hierarchy. In general, social media optimization refers to optimizing a website and its content to encourage more users to use and share links to the website across social media and networking sites.

Online identity management (OIM), also known as online image management, online personal branding, or personal reputation management (PRM), is a set of methods for generating a distinguished web presence of a person on the Internet. Online identity management also refers to identity exposure and identity disclosure, and has particularly developed in the management on online identity in social network services or online dating services.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Paywall</span> System that prevents Internet users from accessing webpage content without a paid subscription

A paywall is a method of restricting access to content, with a purchase or a paid subscription, especially news. Beginning in the mid-2010s, newspapers started implementing paywalls on their websites as a way to increase revenue after years of decline in paid print readership and advertising revenue, partly due to the use of ad blockers. In academics, research papers are often subject to a paywall and are available via academic libraries that subscribe.

Social media measurement, also called social media controlling, is the management practice of evaluating successful social media communications of brands, companies, or other organizations.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Social media marketing</span> Promotion of products or services on social media

Social media marketing is the use of social media platforms and websites to promote a product or service. Although the terms e-marketing and digital marketing are still dominant in academia, social media marketing is becoming more popular for both practitioners and researchers. Most social media platforms have built-in data analytics tools, enabling companies to track the progress, success, and engagement of social media marketing campaigns. Companies address a range of stakeholders through social media marketing, including current and potential customers, current and potential employees, journalists, bloggers, and the general public. On a strategic level, social media marketing includes the management of a marketing campaign, governance, setting the scope and the establishment of a firm's desired social media "culture" and "tone".

In the online advertising industry, a viewable impression is a measure of whether a given advert was actually seen by a human being, as opposed to being out of view or served as the result of automated activity. The viewable impression guidelines are administered by the Media Rating Council and require that a minimum of 50% of the pixels in the advertisement were in an in-focus tab on the viewable space of the browser page for at least one continuous second.

Online presence management is the process of creating and promoting traffic to a personal or professional brand online. This process combines web design, and development, blogging, search engine optimization, pay-per-click marketing, reputation management, directory listings, social media, link sharing, and other avenues to create a long-term positive presence for a person, organization, or product in search engines and on the web in general.

Social media intelligence refers to the collective tools and solutions that allow organizations to analyze conversations, respond to synchronize social signals, and synthesize social data points into meaningful trends and analysis, based on the user's needs. Social media intelligence allows one to utilize intelligence gathering from social media sites, using both intrusive or non-intrusive means, from open and closed social networks. This type of intelligence gathering is one element of OSINT.

Social media use by businesses includes a range of applications. Although social media accessed via desktop computers offer a variety of opportunities for companies in a wide range of business sectors, mobile social media, which users can access when they are "on the go" via tablet computers or smartphones, benefit companies because of the location- and time-sensitive awareness of their users. Mobile social media tools can be used for marketing research, communication, sales promotions/discounts, informal employee learning/organizational development, relationship development/loyalty programs, and e-commerce.

<i>Stuck: How Vaccine Rumors Start and Why They Dont Go Away</i> Book about vaccination

Stuck: How Vaccine Rumors Start and Why They Don't Go Away (2020), published by Oxford University Press and written by the director of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine's Vaccine Confidence Project, Heidi Larson, looks at what influences attitudes to vaccination. It was largely compiled before the COVID-19 pandemic and inspired by her feeling that the dialogue between scientists and the public regarding vaccines was becoming complex on a background of increasing online information.

References

  1. ↑ Miranda, Sebastião. "Tailoring Media Monitoring with User Feedback." Text2Story@ ECIR. 2020.
  2. ↑ "Media Monitoring | The SAGE Glossary of the Social and Behavioral Sciences - Credo Reference". search.credoreference.com. Retrieved March 26, 2022.
  3. ↑ Kirby, Justin; Marsden, Paul (June 7, 2007). Connected Marketing. Routledge. ISBN   978-1-136-41565-4.
  4. ↑ Batrinca, Bogdan; Treleaven, Philip C. (February 1, 2015). "Social media analytics: a survey of techniques, tools and platforms". AI & Society. 30 (1): 89–116. doi: 10.1007/s00146-014-0549-4 . ISSN   1435-5655. S2CID   12574246.
  5. ↑ Töllinen, Aarne; Järvinen, Joel; Karjaluoto, Heikki (2012). "Social Media Monitoring in the industrial Business to Business Sector". World Journal of Social Sciences.
  6. ↑ I. Flaounas, M. Turchi, T. De Bie, and N. Cristianini, "Inference and Validation of Networks", ECML/PKDD, Bled, Slovenia, Springer, pp. 344–358, 2009.
  7. ↑ N. Godbole,M. Srinivasaiah, S. Skiena, "Large-Scale Sentiment Analysis for News and Blogs", Int. Conf. on Weblogs and Social Media (ICWSM 2007), Denver CO, March 26–28, 2007
  8. ↑ Karafillakis, Emilie; Martin, Sam; Simas, Clarissa; Olsson, Kate; Takacs, Judit; Dada, Sara; Larson, Heidi Jane (February 8, 2021). "Methods for Social Media Monitoring Related to Vaccination: Systematic Scoping Review". JMIR Public Health and Surveillance. 7 (2): e17149. doi: 10.2196/17149 . ISSN   2369-2960. PMC   7899807 . PMID   33555267.
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