The Social Media Measurement Standards Conclave: Photos and Attendees

For additional coverage of the Conclave, see “The Durham Conclave: Our Progress on Setting Social Media Measurement Standards,” and “Setting Social Media Measurement Standards: The Conclave, The Coalition, and The Big Ask.” For the state of social media standards, see “The State of Setting Social Media Measurement Standards.”

Here are some photos from the Social Media Measurement Standards Conclave, taking place right now at Katie Paine’s house in Durham, New Hampshire. See this Flickr album for Katie Paine’s photos of the Conclave. See below for a list of attendees. And see this excellent post by Richard Bagnall for some more information.

Here is last night’s lobster dinner:

...here is a panorama of this morning’s discussion:

 

..and here is the classic squinting-into-the-sun shot at lunchtime:

Social Media Measurement Standards Conclave attendees, 10/25/2011:

• Richard Bagnall: Metrica, AMEC (The International Association for the Measurement and Evaluation of Communication)
• KC Brown: Cision Global Analysts
• Doug Chapin: KDPaine & Partners
• Mark Chaves: SAS Institute
• Brad Fay: KellerFay Group, WOMMA (Word of Mouth Marketing Association)
• John Lovett: Web Analytics Demystified, WAA (Web Analytics Association)
• Tim Marklein: WCG, CPRF (Council for Public Relations Firms), IPR (The Institute for Public Relations)
• Jennifer McClure: Thomson Reuters, SNCR (Society for New Communications Research)
• Frank Ovaitt : IPR
• Katie Delahaye Paine: KDPaine & Partners
• Eve Stevens: AMEC, CPRF, Waggener Edstom Insight and Analytics
• John Stieger: Procter & Gamble
• Paige Wesley: IABC (International Association of Business Communicators)
• Professor Don Wright: PRSA (Public Relations Society of America)

--WTP

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--Bill Paarlberg is editor of  The Measurement Standard blog and newsletter, and of Katie Paine's new book Measure What Matters. The Measurement Standard is a publication of KDPaine & Partners, a company that delivers custom research to measure brand image, public relationships, and engagement.

Comments

[Joe Smith]

Ok, so how do you propose to actually measure social media? This is mostly the same drivel we continually hear from so-called "measurement experts." You haven't even figured out how to measure basic public relations activity and effectiveness and now you want to jump directly to social media without dealing with the "800 pound gorilla" that is staring you directly in the face. Social media is simply media. Learn to measure the basic effect of public relations first, then worry about this nuance.

[Bill Paarlberg]

Thanks for the comment, Joe. Excellent point. I think you might have fit right in at the conference: One general agreement was that social media measurement is being driven by whatever is the latest medium or technology, rather than more basic underlying concepts. And we need to work on those.

What stuck me at the conference was that most of the dozen or so very high-powered and accomplished pros in the room were already quite good at measuring their own PR and social media. They each had developed their own ways of monitoring and compiling data that would bear on their own situations and goals.

But those dozen pros mostly had very different programs and audiences and goals with respect to each other. Each had a pretty good handle on doing it within their own environment, but trying to get something that everyone agreed would work across several environments was, and will continue to be, very, very difficult.

And that pertains, to a lesser extent, to measuring PR in general. PR is a complex endeavor, with programs that differ greatly from one another. One measurement solution will not fit everyone.