Last week, I was interviewed for PRWeek’s Products & Tools Newsletter Expert Q&A feature. The bulletin isn’t available on the web for some reason, so I have re-posted it below:

Collective Intellect provides real-time data on social media. Whats the importance of this service in today’s media environment?

RS: Consumers today not only consume media, increasingly they create and share it. 25% of all Internet users publish content online (Forrester); 40% read blogs regularly (PEW); 120,000 blogs are created daily in the US (CI). Getting access to all the conversations that apply to your company, in real time, as they happen, allows you to respond effectively as the story unfolds, instead of waiting until the next day or the next week when the story creeps into a traditional publication. Customers also use our real-time ability to benchmark activity before they begin a campaign, so they can track changes in activity and sentiment.

Why are message boards still relevant?

RS: In many industries, there is more discussion happening on message boards than on blogs or other social media. For some companies, it exceeds 50% of new media discussion. Message boards will continue to be a place people go to leave anonymous comments and critiques. Companies that choose to ignore these posts are ignoring a great portion of media discussion about their companies, their products, their brands, and their campaigns.

What are some of your tips for PR monitoring, measurement, and analysis?

RS: First, pay attention to the most influential bloggers that discuss your industry. Remember, these may not necessarily be the bloggers with the largest audiences, many bloggers are influential in small, niche areas, and are going to provide you the greatest amount of influence in that conversation stream.

Second, benchmark activity before you begin a new campaign so that your reporting is based on real changes in activity, not estimates.

Finally, measure not just volume of activity, but also how the conversation is changing. Is the tone changing from bad to good?

Tags: Consumer-Generated Media (CGM), Mass Media/Culture, Public Relations //