Audience Measurement in Press Through Social Interactivity on Facebook in Brazil

Abstract

This paper focuses in the process of audience measurement in social media using the ten Brazilian newspapers of greatest circulation, both print and online, on Facebook. The aim was to analyze social interactivity and engagement of the audiences in fan pages to establish which scenarios promote a better engagement with the audience. In order to do so, authors analyzed statistics of access to Facebook pages, and collected news posts. In this analysis, they took into consideration the amount of interaction, based on the number of emoticons, shared information, and comments, as well as the engagement, based on the amount of comments and the times participants shared information. As a result, authors obtained three categories of audiences in social media: alleged, reached, and engaged audiences. Although Facebook offers the possibility to extend the visibility of news, reaching an audience much higher than traditional news, authors found low interaction and commitment, contrary to what is expected of social media.