The fragmentation of content and the struggle for immediate attention leads to the creation of increasingly superficial content, to the detriment of expert knowledge; This is one of the main conclusions of the trends in communication for the second quarter of 2023, published by comma.
comma’s communication trends report listens to and analyses social media posts and media hits on industry topics; Analysing society’s understanding of communication is essential to address the challenges facing the sector in a contextualised way;
Metrics
In this second four-month period of 2023, around 17.183 news items on communication in a total of 4,146 media outlets in Spain; The activity generated in the digital ecosystems (social networks, forums and blogs) is 30.532 posts, which had a reach of more than 129 million potential impressions;
Analysis of digital communities: a segmented study of narratives
This new edition focuses on thecommunity analysis. This way of structuring the conversation in terms of the relationships between the individuals who participate in it has allowed us to segment the different audiences and then delve deeper into the narrative trends that each one of them yields;
The report ends with a series of recommendations aimed at suggesting improvements in the positioning of opinion leaders as well as actions to reinforce the reputation of the sector.
Main findings
In addition to the fragmentation of content and the struggle for attention with superficial content discussed above, the report reveals an absence of verifiable data, reliable information or references to enrich the conversation as a result of a growing obsession with going ‘viral’; dramatically narrowing arguments to the anodyne;
With regard to the analysis of digital communities, the report reveals that those communities that have generated the most conversation in the period analysed are those of a political nature; On the other hand, it is the media and magazine communities that have the most relevant profiles in the conversation (47%);
In the analysis, the digital conversation is organised around two large blocks: one focused on political issues, which have a more generalist approach; and another block with more specialised profiles that mainly discuss current sectoral issues;
Within the type of conversations, there are recurrent and cross-cutting themes in the policy dialogue, such as:
- Increased distrust of the media due to its relationship with public and private advertising.
- Strategy versus authenticity; The actions and publications of certain public figures and political parties are seen as false authenticity, pure marketing strategy;
In the sectoral communities, the most relevant cross-cutting themes are:
- Responsibility and social change, with sustainability and equality as highlights. Consistency between what is done and what is said is considered paramount;
- Technology, AI and the future of the profession.
Recommendations for the sector;
From a communication perspective, the narrative trends present in the content sample highlight the importance of transparency, consistency and authenticity in organisational communication.
Corporate communication should avoid conveying this perception of manipulation and ensure that messages are consistent with the organisation’s actions.
In addition, building public trust requires reinforce transparent communication, which accurately represents the company’s values and objectives.
In an environment where political agendas and economic interests influence communication, companies must strive to maintain its independence and demonstrate a strong commitment to ethics and social and environmental responsibility.
