Historically, media impact has been measured through lab studies. Doing so through other channels has proved challenging due to potential selection bias. Today’s technology enables a better path to analysis with artificial intelligence tools like natural language processing and machine learning or image recognition software.
The Media Impact Project brings together a unique team of researchers including social and behav-ioral scientists, journalists, analytics experts and other specialists to collaborate to test and create new ways to measure the impact of media.
What’s more, the metrics that media organizations typically use were not designed to measure social impact. Most of these metrics originated in the advertising industry. They estimate the size of an audience for broadcast and print outlets, or they count the number of visitors to a website.
The media impacts virtually everyone. From news stories to social media platforms, what we see in the media helps to shape our views of the world. Even if you’re not a big consumer of media, the people around you might be.