The Astronomical Impact of Social Media Analysis
Considering that the disorganized nature and massive scale of social media marketing may induce panic attacks and night sweats for many brand managers, it can help to have an astrophysicist on your team.
I recently had the opportunity to speak with Physicist, Analyst, and President of Nexalogy Environics, Claude Théoret in order to gain insight into the state of social media analysis.
Based in Montreal’s hip Mile End neighborhood, Nexalogy has been approaching social media in a uniquely scientific way since 2006. An astrophysicist by training, Théoret studied and taught in Quebec and France before applying his experience in physics and statistics to online strategy. After a brief encounter with French theorist Bruno Latour, Théoret became interested in Actor-Network Theory, a unique research method developed by Latour and his colleagues. While this method was generally applied to academic circles, gathering and analyzing publications, Théoret saw its potential to change the way companies and brands look at the social media landscape.
Combining Actor-Network Theory with advanced approaches to data analysis, Nexalogy filters through the clutter of the social media environment to identify the most important signals – key actors, issues, trends, and ideas – that have an impact on a client and its activities. Next, computers and analysts scrutinize these signals in order to gain an accurate lay of the land.
During our conversation, Théoret explained the striking similarities between his experiences in astrophysics and the work that Nexalogy has been doing in Montreal. When asked about the overwhelming nature of today’s social media layout – with its constant updates and disorganized information – Théoret responded with the cool of someone who has studied the infinitely expanding Universe. “This is where physics comes into play,” he explains, “Physicists know how to handle literally astronomical sizes of data sets that aren’t very well organized. With blogs for example, the data problem is the same. We need to find signals and reduce noise. Because the data is unstructured, analysis becomes very complicated – but that’s where Nexalogy comes in.”
Based on its scientific approach, Nexalogy has become a world leader in corporate social responsibility and social media. Working with political parties, international companies, and non-profit groups, the agency has helped to close the gap between organizations and the general public and their concerns. When a company makes a mistake – be it an oil spill or a bad commercial – the general public by way of the Internet can (and will) propagate any negative connotations that could attach to the organization. This ability to spread opinions and attitudes is prompting companies to legitimately care about Internet response. Using Nexalogy’s services, clients have been able to more effectively listen to the public and make better strategic and tactical decisions as a result.
While social media analysis is quickly joining surveys as go-to tools for gathering brand response, it is comforting to know that the work is in the right hands. With agencies like Nexalogy bringing precision and science to online brand management, board members can sleep well at night – panic attack free.
