What does the web think about technology topics such as Industry 4.0, digitalization or artificial intelligence? These are the questions that the Nuremberg Institute of Technology's Innovation Communication research focus in the Technology Journalism / Technology PR degree program has been investigating for a year using the social listening method. In cooperation with the Rheinische Post newspaper from Düsseldorf, the editorial team's 'Listening Center' was used to collect and evaluate the relevant data. "With the start of the new year, we now have our own 'Listening Center' and can use the tool for several research projects and better integrate it into teaching," says Prof. Volker Banholzer, Head of the Technology Journalism/Technology PR course and responsible for the research focus on innovation communication.

Prof. Volker Banholzer from the Nuremberg Institute of Technology (left) and Daniel Fiene from the Rheinische Post (right) in front of the 'Listening Center' display.

© Rheinische Post / TH Nuremberg

Banholzer expects to be able to observe and analyze moods and attitudes on the internet on sometimes controversial topics such as artificial intelligence or robotics almost in real time by using the 'Listening Center'. "We want to achieve results for innovation communication and convey the benefits of the evaluations for journalistic editorial work to students," says Banholzer. Banholzer sees the benefits of the Listening Center above all in strategic corporate and organizational communication. By evaluating the moods on technology topics and the proportion of speeches by certain protagonists, companies, associations or think tanks can derive strategy recommendations for their own positioning, for example. This would go beyond traditional media monitoring or reputation analyses. With the tool at Nuremberg Tech, Banholzer can also imagine designing projects together with companies or specialist publishers. He has medium-sized companies from the capital goods industry or cluster initiatives in mind.

Origin: Editorial work of the Rheinische Post

The 'Listening Center' has been used for editorial work at Rheinische Post for several years. "All of our journalists in the more than 25 local editorial offices receive personalized reporting that allows them to see the topics that are relevant to the people in their locality," explains Daniel Fiene, Head of Editorial Digital Strategy at Rheinische Post. The colleagues not only keep an eye on social networks, but also on forums and news portals. "This benefits our reporting. Our readers can be sure that we keep an eye on all the topics that affect them." Rheinische Post has been awarded the 'NOVA' innovation prize by the Federal Association of German Newspaper Publishers for the project. Google has also supported the 'Listening Center' as part of its 'Digital News Initiative'.