Comments

The Potential Value of Big Data to PR and Communications — 4 Comments

  1. Forest, I think you are providing communicators with a good approach to working with Big Data.

    Having spent a lot of years inside corporations, I’d make an addition to what you identified: Early on, the communicators must be clear on who within the organization they are going to presenting their findings to (the CMO? The CEO? The CFO? The Chief Legal Counsel? Head of Sales? etc.) and be very clear on the kind of data that most resonates with that person or audience. As individuals and function heads, they each will have a lens through which they view things and make judgments, so this needs to be taken into account.

  2. Thanks for the reference to my IABC piece, Forrest! As I said, while I am skeptical about how data is sometimes used in decision-making (largely because of some of the analysis questions you ask here), as well as organizations who begin to think quantitative data can answer everything or who don’t think through the ethical questions of how that data is gathered and used…there are also many great potentials to doing this smartly, ethically, and in the interest of the end audience. I appreciate your referencing/linking to my piece from CW! And I have enjoyed our exchanges on the subject.

  3. Thanks Sam. I agree with all you say about the challenges and shortcomings of big data as well as its potential.