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Module 7: Metrics

Measuring social media journalism projects

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How do you measure success in print?

• Circulation, readership, subscription• Advertising• Letters to the editor• Participation in marketing events, charity

runs, contests, donations• Focus groups: Determine what people

read, what’s popular and why• Eyetrack studies: Determine how people

read what they read and why

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Measuring in online and mobile world

• Quantitative: – Page views– Unique Visitors– Time spent– Online advertising (ad buy, conversions)

• Most emailed, most viewed, most visited, most downloaded• Facebook: Number of friends, fans, participants in event • Twitter: Number of followers, tweets, re-tweets, clicks to short

links (eg: bit.ly provides stats)• Blogs: Number of pageviews, visitors number of comments,

re-posts, mentions on other blogs, RSS subscriptions• Video, podcasts: Number of views, embeds, downloads• Apps, widgets, badges: Downloads

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Measuring in online and mobile worlds

• Qualitative: – Were we able to resolve a community issue, avert a crisis

or injustice, save costs, improve an infrastructure, inspire change, encourage action from authorities for our readers

– Blog/Twitter/Facebook Comments: Positive/negative/neutral

• Did we learn something that we didn’t know before? • Did our readers learn something?• Were we able to engage our readers in new

conversations?– Interaction and conversations:

• What are people blogging/tweeting about our stories?

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Tools to track and monitor

• Google Analytics• Google Alerts• Tweetbeep• Social Mention• Xinu• Feedburner

• Social Too• BoardTracker• BackType• KeoTag• Compete• Trackur

Commercial: Nielsen BuzzMetrics, Radian6, TNS Cymfony, Ubervu

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Signs of success… onWhen Googled:1. Leads to story or set of stories on website, social media project microsite or

dedicated section, or related social network pages. 2. Leads to active discussions on issues related to stories or social media

project.3. Leads to blogs and commentary on other sites linked to your stories or project.4. Does not lead to something controversial or negative, (unless a lesson to be

learnt)

When your bylines are individually Googled:

1. Doesn’t come up blank.

2. Leads to your online blog, webpage or social media profiles and social media project.

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Signs of success…on blogs, microblogs, social networks

Your followers, fans are rising They update their followers regularly and link to your stories They re-tweet your posts, tweets They voluntarily answer questions They have interesting things to say about your posts, stories or social media

projects They respond to your solicitation for story ideas, feedback, on polls and offer

to help They show genuine interest in engaging with the community you are building

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