Online communication
Online communication is increasingly important for businesses. The direct channel of communication to various stakeholders/sections of the public advances businesses to the status of direct communicators. Unlike with conventional media communications, businesses can control content and portrayal themselves. The gatekeeper function no longer resides with external journalists but is carried out by business organizations themselves – ideally, business organizations set up their own online content management teams.
Users of the world wide web selectively seek information that meets their personal interests. Publicly communicated issues also trigger the quest for information. Interactive elements enable dialog-based two-way communications. Users can participate directly in information and communication processes and influence them too (e.g. through forums, commentator functions, etc.). The borders between communicators and recipients are blurring. This is at its most evident in blogs and on social media platforms (see weblog media analysis).
In most cases, evaluation of online communication is limited to an investigation of user behavior. Analysis programs integrated into websites supply information on aspects such as visitor numbers, page impressions, most visited pages, time spent on content, user provenance, etc. Providers usually offer suitable tools, but other websites (e.g. Google Analytics) also offer tools for analysis.
A more extensive evaluation of online communication also addresses other issues:
- How easily can users find information? (usability tests)
- How well is it understood? (surveys and focus groups)
- How do users act on the information, change their attitudes, opinions etc? (surveys und focus groups)
Another aspect that appears important is to verify whether online communication meets the defined corporate and communication goals (see internet media analysis) , and to evaluate the conceptualization and realization process (see processes und quality).
