Managing Your Information by Media Monitoring

For communication practitioner, managing information is one of the most important jobs. Whether we are a PR or Marketing Manager in a multinational company, we should understand how the meaning and perception is constructed by the mass media. Specifically, we have to identify how the information is processed in information systems from input to the output as a result. Usually, we identify the public perception by doing media monitoring everyday to find out what issues that considered important in public.

It also said in information-processing model proposed by Mcguire in 1989 that explained the six stages in information processing. Starting from message exposure, attention to message, comprehension of message content, acceptance of the premises contained in message arguments that lead to opinion change and ended to attitude change. This concept is similar with media monitoring activity to understand how the message exposure in mass media as the input and will lead to create output which is changing people’s attitude.

As we understand how the information is disseminated and processed by public, communication practitioner needs to be proactive in communicating messages with the public rather than to be reactive with uncertainty upcoming issue. Moreover, in open system public and the free access information by Internet today, we should monitor the media either offline and online. When we understand how information is processed in certain information systems, we can communicate with the public effectively and efficiently.

Information Dissemination by Mass Media

Everyday people are overwhelmed information produced by the mass media. TV, radio, newspapers, magazines and now Internet that bring us into the revolutionary information era where information are easily to access anywhere and everywhere. However, before Internet comes in 1990’s the television was a medium of the socialization of most people into standardized roles and behaviors (Gerbner and Gross: 1976). The television also was known as the perfect tool for modernization process at that time to cultivate people’s mind about the modern thoughts.

In other hand, TV also brings the negative aspects in people’s life. Sometimes, TV journalist exaggerates the story in order to make it attractive to the viewer. For example in criminal news/stories, TV journalist may exaggerate the criminal events in a bad way. That somehow, is giving people a trauma and creates the mean world syndrome where the life becomes very harmful than the fact. It shows how important the role of media that constructs perception in people’s mind.

Mass media in the future may involve more people participation to co-create the meaning and understanding among each other. The mass media will become more horizontal where the journalist will be no longer as the main point in creating news. The citizen journalism may one of the examples of the mass media in the future. One of the examples is I-report program, in CNN, the program allows people to send their news report to be broadcasted widely.

Online Customer Behavior

Dentsu, a Japan advertising agency, develops the AISAS concept to explain the online user behavior in Web 2.0 era. AISAS stands for Attention-Interest-Search-Action-Share. This process explains how online user usually behaves when they are using Internet especially in decision making of buying product. Web 2.0 enables the web designers to provide a rich communication environment such as multimedia to foster interest level among online user. At the first level, Web 2.0 technology can generate interest to online user comparing to Web 1.0 that only attract simple attention from online user.

When the online user has reached the high level of interest, they will search the product or company that they are ready to buy in order to search a cheapest price and the retail store. But somehow, in search level online user may find the other competitor offering the better product or finding the bad news/comments about the product that the online user wants to buy. That is why recently the term of Search Engine Optimization/ Marketing begins popular in virtual world. SEO/SEM is an effort to put the company/product website not only at the top of the search engine list but to put the best content at the top of search engine top list.

If online user has decided to but (action) and already used the product then the online user will share their experience of using the product in social networking or in their blog. This last level will directly effect in Search level because the sharing content of online user will be put in search engine top list and this is how PR should always the monitor the result the product/company in the top search engine like Google.