The Politial Capital article was created at the request of the NIOK Foundation, in which we present in detail the basic functions and possibilities of community and non-community media monitoring tools that can be used to monitor narratives involving civil organizations.
Although media monitoring software was originally and primarily developed for the competitive management of market companies' communications and brands, in their current form they are now perfectly suited to perform more general communication tasks related to individuals or organizations. For civil organizations, these software can prove to be extremely useful primarily in three areas: (1) in organizational communication, (2) in the fight against disinformation and (3) in carrying out (media) research.
When choosing a device, the following main aspects should be considered in advance:
What are the objectives of the organization or the activity, i.e. what and why do you want to monitor?
Which platforms are relevant for the organization and is the given software capable of examining the examined platforms, languages and data types?
Is there a need for advanced parameterization that enables a more precise, targeted search regarding the topic or sources, e.g. compared to Google Trends
Is real-time data collection or trend analysis based on historical data required? (Real-time data is basic, but historical data requires a separate resource and storage space to make messages from thousands or millions of sources retroactively available for a future, possible, yet-to-be-determined research)
Does the analysis require the use of advanced tools such as AI-based sentiment analysis?
Is the financing of the software, the expertise necessary for its operation, the ability to integrate technology into the work processes available within the organization or is there a way to involve an external specialist?
In general, there are many free software that provide media monitoring functions available, but their operation usually requires deeper technological knowledge and programming expertise, they often do not work properly, or they have variable or only partial access to data from large social platforms. Paid, "out-of-the-box" devices, on the other hand, are expensive, starting at a few hundred dollars per month, but in return they have advanced and well-functioning basic functions, a user-friendly and quickly learnable user interface, or based on separate agreements, they have reliable data provision. We wrote more about the parameters you can monitor in this article.
4.1 Optimizing organizational functioning and communication
In terms of organizational functioning, media monitoring software can effectively contribute to civil organizations
for brand building,
for project management,
and for your general communication
These three priority tasks can be optimized through specific software functions. In addition, of course, depending on the organizational goals, we can combine and apply the data collection, analysis and reporting toolset of the software. Let's see how a media monitoring software can help them one by one!
Brand management
Or how do they see us? - measurement of brand perceptions.
Brand management is one of the original and central functions of media monitoring tools. With its help, NGOs can monitor the discourses, reactions and attitudes related to their organization and organizational activities, as well as the news sources and platforms that most influence public perception.
Usable software functions and tools:
keywords set for the organization's name or a combination of its name and topics ensure the collection of media content concerning the organization;
we can analyze the perception of the organization or its topics with a trend analysis showing the temporal distribution of the number and interaction of the data, with the sentiment analysis function reflecting the attitudes of news consumers, and also with an overview of the news sources and leading platforms that produce the most data;
Example: a human rights organization can assess which platforms and mediums have the most lively debate on the issues they represent, and then launch a targeted media campaign to increase their visibility in the public eye.
Crisis communication
The real-time monitoring capabilities of media monitoring software are particularly useful for crisis communication, which enable rapid organizational response to online public discourse, which is especially volatile in the age of social media. Users can operate them both manually and automatically.
Usable software functions and tools:
24/7 monitoring of crisis events, news or organizations using search focus keywords;
through the analysis of outstanding news or data production peaks ("Peak") of the trend analysis, leading news, news sources and narratives that require reaction or intervention can be identified;
we can set up automatic alerts or alerts that notify you immediately via push messages or emails when the number of new media content related to a crisis suddenly increases or crosses a threshold.
Example: a national animal rescue network can constantly monitor whether abuse has occurred at any site. With instant alerts, you can quickly respond to scandals, actively contributing to the management of reactions from social media.
Project management
Project management differs from brand management not so much in its essence, but rather in its purpose and volume, insofar as it means monitoring the short-term validity of a given campaign or message. The serious added value of media monitoring software is that in this case, in addition to the (access or other) data provided by the own web or social media interfaces, they enable the investigation of the given project or campaign in the entire media space.
Measuring campaign effectiveness
Since most public projects involve some minimal campaign, usually on social platforms, media monitoring tools should be used to measure the overall effectiveness of the campaign.
Usable software functions and tools:
keywords set for the name of the project's campaign and the combination of its topics ensure the collection of media content related to the project;
with source or platform analysis, we can identify which news sources, mediums or influencers contribute the most to the dissemination of the campaign and its messages;
the general presence of the campaign in the media space can be determined through the data table function that summarizes the results;
through the audience estimation, we can see the size of the audience reached, and through the interactions and sentiment analysis, the desired negative or positive effect caused by the campaign;
examining the time trend of data and interactions shows the impact of the campaign over time;
Example: during a new health epidemic, child protection organizations can monitor the impact of a new vaccination campaign they have launched on social media. By identifying the most active platforms and influencers, they can then develop a special communication strategy to combat anti-vaccination.
General communication
Media monitoring tools can best contribute to the general communication of NGOs by mapping the given – negative or positive – media environment, by interpreting and mobilizing the reactions of important target audiences and support bases, and by identifying the communication challenges lurking in the given NGO sector.
Audience research
It is a key issue for organizations, including NGOs, to be aware of how the public in general and their own target audience in particular relate to their mission, the specific issues they represent or the more general social issues, legislation, debates, etc. affected by their activities. Since we have already discussed the monitoring of organizations and their activities in the brand or campaign management section, here we will only talk about measuring how our civic activities are perceived by the public.
Usable software functions and tools:
search keywords set for a combination of more general issues or topics belonging to the organization's scope of activity ensure the collection of relevant media content - here we can create several projects for the comparative study of individual topics or public issues;
by analyzing the leading sources, viral messages, reactions and trends, and by estimating the audience, we can identify the topics with the greatest impact, the public debates and questions related to the topics;
with the help of AI-driven sentiment analysis, we can identify, categorize and filter for further analysis the topics, narratives, arguments and points of discussion that trigger the most negative and most positive attitudes;
we can set automatic alarms or warnings so that the organization is informed in time about changes in public opinion on a current political or social issue that is important to it.
Example: in order to plan its future projects, establish organizational collaborations or influence policy decisions, an NGO dealing with environmental protection can monitor the perception of key words in the public, such as "climate change" or "green transition".
Commitment management
In our other article for presenting the basic functions of the software, we already talked about engagement management. In essence, this enables NGOs to observe reactions related to their organization, their campaigns and the causes they represent, or respond in a timely manner to questions or problems raised by their (target) audience.
Usable software functions and tools:
in addition to the selection of relevant media content, the reactions can be analyzed in more detail by basically qualitative and quantitative analysis of the reactions (e.g. like, share) and comments provided by the platforms, and also by sentiment analysis evaluating the content or news sources in terms of mood reactions;
some tools have features that allow users to comment and shape the discourse directly through the software;
Increasing or mobilizing a supporter base
Organizations can track their supporter base by identifying active followers who regularly share and support their content. They can mobilize these opinion leaders and supporter groups with targeted messages or advertisements during their campaigns.
Example: a charity can quickly respond to questions about donations on social media, increasing donor trust and satisfaction.
Usable software functions and tools:
Through source and platform analysis, organizations can identify the sources, mediums, influencers, groups and users that share the most content or generate the most viral messages and interactions;
Sentiment analysis can help to select those online actors who spread positive messages about the given organization or the causes it represents.
Sector analysis
The sector analysis provides insight into the functioning of the given civil sector and its place in the public eye. All of this can be understood as a brand analysis or audience research that does not only focus on a specific NGO, but tries to get an impression of the key actors, activities and topics of entire sectors.
Usable software functions and tools:
search keywords set for a combination of the names, more general issues or topics of organizations belonging to the civil sector ensure the collection of relevant media content - here we can create several projects for the comparative examination of the communication of individual organizations;
by analyzing leading sources, viral messages, reactions and trends, and audience estimation, we can identify organizations, topics and narratives with the greatest impact;
with the help of AI-driven sentiment analysis, we can identify, categorize and filter out for further analysis the organizations, topics, narratives, and disinformation that cause the most negative and most positive attitudes.
Example: local cultural heritage protection organizations can monitor the methods, messages and efficiency with which other similar organizations reach their audience, and then, based on the data, they can develop a new common communication strategy or forms of cooperation.
4.2 Action against disinformation
Effective action against disinformation basically means recognizing disinformation attacks in time, monitoring threats and developing appropriate response measures.
Identifying disinformation and disinformation attacks
Identification of disinformation messages or narratives can be done through general monitoring, when we cannot pre-determine false or manipulative information, or by pre-defining disinformation content.
Usable software functions and tools:
General monitoring: we use keywords to set the search focus for the NGO or the field of activity.
We then use trend analysis or sentiment analysis to identify the viral messages and main sources that generate the greatest and/or most negative activity. We then manually identify the main disinformation narratives and news sources.
News monitoring based on prior information: we set the keyword search focus on specific disinformation messages and narratives that are already known in advance.
After that, we use the "snowball" method to observe which news sources and platforms spread the already known disinformation. The news sources identified in this way are examined one by one to identify further disinformation narratives. Among the tools, the "top" or leading news sources function, or we use the "network" function, which maps the network between media content and news sources, to fully explore disinformation narratives, the sources, mediums, and influencers that spread them.
Example: a human rights organization identifies the most widespread negative narratives and their spreaders through keyword research and sentiment analysis to uncover racist stereotypes about minorities.
Threat tracking
Monitoring disinformation threats primarily means monitoring the news production of known disinformation sources.
Usable software functions and tools:
In the given software, we set up a source list containing disinformation sources ("Targets"), a search focus ("Search query"/"Projects") containing keyword combinations for already known disinformation narratives, and a trend analysis displaying the news production of the sources in real time.
We use alerts or warnings ("Alerts") to learn about the unexpected activity of disinformation sources or news production, to recognize changes in old or new disinformation trends.
Responses to disinformation
With the report or alert function of media monitoring software, we can compile data visualizations and statements about the latest or most relevant disinformation narratives, sources, and threats that can be used for decision preparation.
Based on the data obtained through monitoring, the following responses are possible:
Development of a response protocol: development of a general communication protocol about who, what, to what target audience is communicated, or how the organization reacts to the escalation of information attacks, how it performs crisis management.
Cooperation with independent media and influencers: to counteract false narratives, NGOs can rely on influential actors who are able to successfully deliver objective and fact-based counter-messages and statements to the general public or selected target groups.
Educating the (target) audience: organizations can inform or educate their own target audience or the wider public about identifying and refuting disinformation attacks and narratives against them.
Cooperation with media platforms: individual NGOs or a group of NGOs can cooperate with social media platforms to report and remove false information.
4.3 Media research
Research conducted through media monitoring software can serve to understand the general communication or public presence of the given NGO, measure the effectiveness of a PR campaign related to a specific task, and carry out a current media research. Below, we outline the general software logic and methodology of media research.
Media research usually seeks to identify a theme or narrative and then measure its spread and impact.
Identifying narratives
The starting point of the research is either the general definition of the range of sources and media included in the investigation in order to collect the messages and narratives they produce, or the monitoring of predetermined narratives in the given media space:
If we start from the sources, after defining the list of sources ("Targets" or "Sources"), we collect the messages that are most viral or that generate the most interactions, i.e. the messages that spread the most, and then categorize them by narrative type.
If we start from the narratives, in the search focus ("Search query"/"Projects") we set up their monitoring for the given period and source list through keyword combinations.
As a result of both approaches, we end up with databases that contain media data relevant to the research narrowed down to a given period and source list and language.
Example: to identify conspiracy theories about the Russian-Ukrainian war, we first select the messages that generate the most interactions with keywords related to the war. The messages are then manually or using artificial intelligence to label and categorize the content in order to record the content types.
The spread of narratives
After mapping the narratives, we finalize the categorization and list of the narratives, and based on these we set the final keyword combination for the search focus(es). Then, the temporal and spatial dissemination of the narratives with trend analysis, the analysis of the volume of news production of the leading news sources, or we examine it by drawing the network of actors participating in dissemination.
Measuring the communication effect mechanism
The impact of the narratives on the public, i.e. what kind of narrative causes which reactions and why, can be established by quantitatively and qualitatively analyzing, among other things, messages, trend peaks, reactions and emotions ("sentiment").
Finally, the results are interpreted in the appropriate political-social context, i.e. in the context of facts, events, and social changes that are missing or receive little attention from the media analysis. Therefore, online analysis is usually performed by offline analysis of downloaded media data, manual desktop research, or we supplement it with conducting interviews in order to explore the relevant information and context as fully as possible.