UKNetMonitor

Bloggers and reputation

2006-11-24T17:59:37+01:00

PR Week has a report on a MORI survey that shows that the UK is behind the rest of Europe, with only half of all adults ever having heard of blogs, compared to 90% of the French. So far so bad, but what is interesting is that nearly a quarter of Brits said that they preferred to get their information from blogs. Newspaper are still ahead at 30%, but probably the most significant thing was the 52% who said that they were more likely to buy a product reviewed online, and a staggering 34% who said that they actually chosen NOT to buy something after having read bad things about it on a blog.

Any one in corporate communications, worried about corporate reputation needs to sit up and take notice of what impact blogs are having on their public relations, consumer PR, and brand.

For more information contact us at UKNetMonitor, the UK's leading internet monitoring bureau.

Comments

Quantitative Analysis of blogs and CGM

2006-07-31T16:46:34+02:00

Quantitative analysis of blogs and other consumer-generated media is, by itself, limited in its accuracy and use. Computer driven statistical selection is prone to error. It is possible for example to say that Technorati report 164 blogs mentioning Vodafone and masts. This compares to 170 for O2, 187 and for Orange. However, even using the most advanced and complex algorithms, the following clip for example, is likely to be picked up as a posting about mobile phone masts:

All our boats built in traditional Turkish wooden type Gulet style between 15 m (50 ft) - 40 m (133 ft) length. They have 1 mast with two sails, 2 masts with three sails, and 3 masts with six sails. Cabins have mostly double beds each with wc, hot showers. Some of them have generator and air-conditioning. Some harbors are good to visit ancient sites of your choice (don't miss it). Stereo system for your pleasure on board. Mobile phone, Fax, Data, Internet, Airport transfers, Hotel arrangements are available.

Additionally there is the question of specificity. In seeking to count or analyze a trend of posts relating to protests about masts for example, a post such as the one below certainly relates to a mobile phone mast, but is about signal strength rather than a protest – although the taxonomy suggests an unhappy blogger.

My phone is being very annoying too at the moment. The signal mast in this area has gone tits up, and I occasionally get a text, but I can't send any, or make any calls. At the moment I feel like ringing up Vodafone and asking why it is I should pay for a contract when I can't even use the damn thing.

It is for this reason that UKNetMonitor relies on human selection of significant clips to ensure that all reports only contain relevant, significant, consequential, actionable postings, rather than adopting a blanket number-crunch.
Given these limitations we provide and use a degree of statistical analysis which is in the public domain, that we believe is useful in assessing trend directions rather than for the purposes of measurement, and also for assessing the relative influence and authority of a web-clipping. For more information on what we do to analyse stuff that helps with corporate reputation visit our website at http://www.uknetmonitor.com.

Comments

Who reads blogs?

2006-06-08T06:55:08+02:00

I am still frequently asked "but who is reading all this blog stuff?" This is largely by the same people who dismissed text messaging as something for kids, rather than a serious business tool.

In Corporate Communications these days the focus persists on the mainstream media. Why? Well certainly because old PR hands know how to handle that, - it's their comfort zone - but also because of the view that what is on TV and in newspapers drives public opinion, rather than the other way around - if anyone still believes that then it is understandable they would have trouble conceiving that there are completely different routes by which opinion is being created and disseminated.

[scroll down for more]

Probably the easiest way to demonstrate "who is reading" is simply to look at the tried and trusted measure of page views. Those great people at Alexa provide just the tool. The graph here (click on it for a bigger picture) compares page views from the websites of The Times, and Financial Times, with hits on blogger.com and Livejournal (using MySpace takes it off the graph!) and for good measure I have thrown in the BBC. Note hits on blogger now surpass the Beeb!
For more information contact us at www.uknetmonitor.com

Comments

Different CGM impacts corporate communications

2006-06-03T09:56:38+02:00

One of the things that is often difficult for companies to get a handle on is the breadth of consumer generated material that impacts on corporate reputation. An understanding of this is critical for companies to respond effectively. Many see blogs as simply another channel for customer complaints, others dismiss them as simply repeating news and views already in the mainstream media. Both of these are true, but there are other types, and they all matter and require response:

Personal experiences
Relaying news beyond usual channels
Expressing influential opinions
Incitement to activism
Raising new issues and concerns
Reflecting reputation
Responding to events

The personal experiences of customers (good or bad) provide any company with valuable intelligence as to how they are doing. Most companies are prepared to spend a fortune of market research, focus groups, and so on, but personal blogs of customers, employees and other stakeholders, provide insights often tempered in other research channels. Monitoring personal blogs provides a company with the opportunity to listen – unmoderated, unfiltered, and in real-time.

Yes, much of what is found on personal blogs, is newsfeed generated, but just because it has already been in The Times doesn't mean that it doesn't matter anymore. The manner in which blogs relay information to new channels is very significant because of the speed, reach and depth of the web. If a company issues a press release, it will be faithfully reported in the next issue of the mainstream media (daily, weekly or monthly). Bloggers will have it within minutes, and it spreads virally to others, typically reaching an audience that is quite distinct and often bigger, from the newspaper reading. More importantly, this information will quickly surface in special interest blogs that a general mainstream PR campaign could to hope to reach.

Of the millions of blogs and personal websites out there most are probably only read by a small circle of friends and aficionados of the blogger. Whilst the reach is small, the influence, particularly when reporting a bad experience, will be felt among that group. No-one in communications can afford to under-estimate the impact of word-of-mouth on reputation. Many blogs are indeed more widely read than mainstream media, and have the stature and influence that goes with it. For me, however, the most significant way in which bloggers are exerting their influence is within the special interest Forums and Groups. If I am deciding what new car to buy, I am just as likely to solicit the opinions of other members of my Golfing forum, as I am to read "What Car". Why? because I trust the opinions of my fellow golfers.

And then there are the activists. The web provides an ideal mechanism for single-issue pressure groups to disseminate information, and calls for action. Whether it is Greenpeace calling for a boycott of a supermarket, animal rights activists demanding violent action against a mobile phone company, or simply a parent campaigning for better school dinners, companies cannot afford to wait until an activist campaign is underway (or worse, reported in the mainstream media) before responding.

Individual stakeholders are using the web, their blogs, their websites, discussion forums, news groups and so on, to raise new issues and concerns. This is where corporate communications professionals really have to change their game. The loss of control over the messaging (http://uknetmonitor.blogspot.com/2006/05/web-20-and-corporate-communications.html) is replaced by a conversation going on around them. This can be listened to, or engaged with, but not ignored.
Ultimately, any company that claims to be customer-centric and then puts the opinions of mainstream journalists above those of its customers is going to have a rather distorted understanding of its corporate reputation. Any company that waits until an issue surfaces in the press before acting, will be behind the reputation curve.

See our website at www.uknetmonitor.com

Comments

Web 2.0 and corporate communications

2006-05-16T15:50:41+02:00

Some thoughts on Web 2.0 following a Demos seminar
Companies have clearly lost their ability to control the news agenda, their message set, and thus their reputation. After 20 odd years in public affairs, these were the mantras by which reputation was managed. Directly managing the outflows of information gave companies the ability to influence the buzz around them.

New skills are now required – persuasion, competence, and trustworthiness will be essential to maintaining goodwill from all stakeholders, along with understanding, empathy and responsiveness – to generalise somewhat – these are all female traits that many of the “warrior” types who have succeeded in getting to the higher echelons of business will find difficult to come to terms with.

What does it mean for the way businesses behave? Much vaunted transparency will have to mean more than just being “open”. Transparency will require light to be shed on internal decision-making processes for their validity. Corporate Communications professionals will need to throw away their command and control structures that allowed them to vet messages simply for reputational impact, in favour of structures that test messages by reviewing the credibility of the process by which they were arrived at. So, no more “we can’t say that, let’s put it another way…” No more, “who can we get to endorse this decision”, but “who did we talk to before actually deciding to do this?”

A consequence of this is that corporate communications professionals must ensure they are embedded through the decision-making processes of a business, from top to bottom. They can no longer be relied upon to do their jobs properly by being involved at the end of a process.

Comments

Public trusts blogs more than newspapers

2006-04-27T12:05:59+02:00

Interesting to note a BBC survey that shows how the public trusts blogs more than they trust television, newspapers or radio as sources of information:

Talking specifically of media, which form of media do you trust the most?

A. Newspapers
B. Radio
C. Television
D. News websites
E. Internet “blogs” or weblogs

To visit our website go to www.uknetmonitor.com

Comments

Ignore bloggers at your peril, say researchers

2006-04-20T10:40:34+02:00

From this morning's Guardian. Amazing how whenever the mainstream media (MSM) talk about bloging they only see it in terms of how it will influence them. Not a word here about peer-to-peer influencers.

· Online pundits 'influence businesses and opinion' · Companies are falling foul of negative net buzz

Bobbie Johnson, technology correspondent Tuesday April 18, 2006 The Guardian

Bloggers and internet pundits are exerting a "disproportionately large influence" on society, according to a report by a technology research company. Its study suggests that although "active" web users make up only a small proportion of Europe's online population, they are increasingly dominating public conversations and creating business trends.

More than half of the internet users on the continent are passive and do not contribute to the web at all, while a further 23% only respond when prompted. But the remainder who do engage with the net - through messageboards, websites and blogs - are helping change the national conversation, say researchers.

"We're seeing this growing," said Julian Smith, an online advertising analyst with Jupiter Research and author of the report. "The strongest part of their influence is on the media: if something online suddenly becomes a story in the local press, then it matters."

Although unprompted contributors are generally younger and more vocal than the wider online population, they are increasingly important as opinion formers and trend-setters. Mr Smith says businesses, media organisations and advertisers reading blogs should be wary of making assumptions about their wider significance, but that their muscle cannot be ignored.

"They're not representative of the larger audience, but what they're saying does matter," he said. "It's a good straw poll - a snapshot of the verbal conversations going on that we can't measure."

"That's exactly right," said Glenn Reynolds, author of An Army of Davids, which explores the explosion in web punditry. "Bloggers and blog-readers are 'influentials' - the minority that pays attention to events outside of political and news cycles. They also tend on average to be better off, better educated and, more importantly, employed."

There are now more than 35m blogs around the world, according to search engine Technorati. While most bloggers only write for small audiences, they can sometimes achieve wider fame or become the focus of consumer campaigns.

Companies like McDonald's, lock manufacturer Kryptonite and computer firm Dell have all fallen foul of internet buzz in recent years. Because search engines like Google can allow grassroots campaigns to become highly visible, industry insiders agree decisions can be shaped by a small number of activists.

"It's always been the case that vocal minorities are listened to by media organisations, brands, advertisers and marketers - normally because they're thought to represent a wider swath of opinion," said Tom Coates, a technologist with Yahoo! and prominent blogger.

"TV and radio programmes are censored or pulled on the green-inked letters of a few hundred people, products removed from shelves because of less than 100 complaints.

"On that basis, these figures start to sound like a pretty large number of people, and probably a much more representative sample than perhaps before."

Mr Reynolds admits the idea of small groups being able to pressurise wider decisions is nothing new, but those who ignore online buzz do so at their peril: "You can bury your head in the sand, but very quickly you'll look like a very old-fashioned company."

----------

If companies are worried about their reputations they should get in touch with us at www.uknetmonitor.com

Comments

Contact us

2006-02-24T00:28:25+01:00

We can be reached at www.uknetmonitor.com

Comments

UKNetMonitor - Welcome

2006-02-10T13:16:06+01:00

UKNetMonitor is an innovative consultancy service providing specialised information for communications professionals in organisations concerned to manage their reputational risk.

Using the latest technology UKNetMonitor employs a team of senior researchers with a wealth of knowledge about corporation reputation, stakeholder dialogue and issues management in the public affairs, corporate responsibility and public relations fields, providing a comprehensive internet monitoring facility that far exceeds the work of automated search engines.

We provide clients with the very best early warning of public concerns and expectations. Being aware of what people are saying is essential to reputation management, helps compliance with the OFR and provides a foundation for a meaningful dialogue with stakeholders.

Comments