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Monitoring the World's Media
The question is "What is the current perception, and how can we improve it." Firstly we have to look at the rapidly changing face of the media. Before our eyes we see traditional top-down media organizations closing their doors and being replaced by a rapidly moving swarm of 113,000,000 Blogs. No longer can politicians and media managers look at the old media to gauge the mood of the people. No longer can Washington PR companies bribe journalists to write glowing reports for the Pentagon. Today the mood of the world is read from the Internet, monitoring a swarm of rapidly changing moods and perceptions at the speed of light. The speed of the human brain to wade through newspaper clippings is a very small percentage of that required to scan the electronic data as it streams off the Internet. Sophisticated artificial intelligence software programs are required using Swarm Intelligence algorithms. The same algorithms used to study swarming fish and birds. What makes them turn together, maintain distance and compact groups, and know the direction of travel without leaders or a chain of command. The end of the Bush/Cheney episode has resulted in a breathing space for media monitoring and planning media campaigns. The new technologies also enable a simple graphical presentation for the inexperienced user, which can be a senior politician or businessman. No longer do these top executives and politicians, even Generals need to wait for their advisers to interpret the numbers, and put their spin on the results. What do they really think?
Good entertainment for the folks back home, but hardly a basis for evaluating the mood of a country, and developing a plan of action. Before a decision is made on an international, or national basis these days the question must be asked as to the validity of the news reports used to determine the course to take. Ask yourself "What do they really think?" |
Before you can make any decision about the world's perception about any country, city, organization, even corporation you need to monitor the millions of news and opinion outlets, and Swarm Intelligence is the only way this can be achieved. The election of President Obama has given the United States, and US corporations a new opportunity.
Many years ago I learned the dirty little secrets of the Big Business Mass News Media, what you see often isn't real but may have been staged for the cameras. At some of the world's flash points camera crews are often seen paying youths and demonstrators to "Riot" exactly on cue. One time in a Capital city I was warned that there would be a spontaneous and violent demonstration late Saturday morning. Demonstrators would be brought in by fleets of buses, and all parking areas were needed for these buses. Problem was it was Thursday, and the police were helping the camera crews set up platforms to get the best shots.