The Importance of Media Monitoring and Social Media

Hi everyone,

During PR Media, I learned how to prepare media clippings. I based my clippings on the resources industry. I cut out news articles and prepared them in a presentation file.

Now at Chevron, I do this on a daily basis on a much larger scale. Chevron uses a media monitoring website. 24 hours a day, it scans the internet, press, radio and TV for key words such as ‘Chevron’, ‘Gorgon’, ‘Wheatstone’, ‘LNG’, etc. Each morning in the office my first job of the day is to skim read all the collected articles and pick out the ones that are relevant to us. As ‘chevron’ is also a v-shaped pattern which can signify many things including military rank, the website picks up many articles which are not relevant to the company too. Thus, it is important that you learn to skim read accurately and quickly. I can read hundreds of articles a day! Once I have found all the latest Chevron news in the media, I compile it into a PDF document and send it onto the communications department and the management team.

In my initial PR Media class, I remember being asked if I had heard the news that day, which I hadn’t. My teacher Jennifer Cornwell told us from that day forward, it was to be our daily priority to read the news. I have really taken that onboard and have encouraged myself to check ABC online every day. Now at Chevron, one of my daily tasks is to get the West Australian, Australian Financial Review and the Australian and prepare them for the team, so I find myself reading those on a daily basis also.

Chevron also keeps up to date with social media. Chevron has a Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube account:

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/Chevron

Twitter: http://twitter.com/Chevron

YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/chevron

To monitor these, we have a social media team who is spread out around the world, and each team member is responsible for monitoring their local content. Did you know that 51% of Australians, 47% Argentineans, and 18% Indonesians were Facebook users, just to name a few? They are large portions of the population! This means that now more than ever, global and industry issues have a far-reaching impact and external voices have the potential to shape Chevron’s reputation and business operations in any country.

Chevron is a bit of a late bloomer when it comes to social media. We only really undertook research on social media impacts, and started controlling local content earlier this year! I think it is a really valuable opportunity to gather intelligence and influence public opinion of a company and its key issues. It allows us to answer critical voices online, provide alternative proof points, monitor their activity, or be prepared to address a crisis that might arise quickly and with little advance warning. Better late than never I guess!

Until next time,

Georgie F