Data jacking Taylor, stats use in the spotlight & crunching for policy change
Plus... free event for London comms pros & new research impact report for universities
Taylor Swift: Megastar, Cat Lady, Data Queen
She came here, she changed outfits lots of times, she conquered - and she spawned data stories involving earthquakes!
With more than 200 million social media followers and a tour smashing records wherever it goes, Taylor Swift has the midas touch when it comes to gaining global media coverage and further solidifying her (ahem) Reputation. See what I did there.
Over the Summer it was also interesting to see how the British Geological Survey (among a few others) pulled off a data-driven ‘newsjack’ of the epic Eras tour.
Using ‘business as usual’ data from its monitoring stations around Edinburgh, it declared that when Ms Swift blasted out ‘Ready For It?’ ‘Cruel Summer’ and ‘Champagne Problems’ the audience response was, literally, ground shaking. Earthquake readings were detected up to 6km from the venue.
Not too shabby for a self-proclaimed ‘childless cat lady’.
What does this mean for comms pros?
This is a great example of tapping into an increasing interest in data–driven stories from news outlets - and shows how you don’t always need to go out and commission new data or spend money to create an interesting numbers-driven story.
It may be worth creating a ‘data map’ as a first step to see what sources and assets you have to work with, and then use this to develop ideas for hooking into the news and current affairs agenda. It can reveal opportunities to achieve impressive coverage and reach new audiences.
Data learnings from a high profile criminal case
Trigger warning: talks about legal issues relating to the death of young children
The Lucy Letby case is one that shocked the nation. It’s impossible to comprehend what the families of the babies who died have gone through - and continue to go through.
Convicted of murdering babies in her care, it is expected Letby will die in prison.
But in recent weeks some stats experts (unrelated to the criminal trial) have expressed concerns about the way some key statistical evidence was presented and interpreted in her original trial.
In a BBC article former President of the Royal Statistical Society Peter Green talks about the staffing rota that was presented by the prosecution. It was used to highlight that Letby had been on duty for every suspicious death or collapse between June 2015 and June 2016.
Prof Green points out that the chart did not reflect that Letby was working extra shifts - and that serious events that happened when she was off-duty were excluded. He argues that charts of this type can be ‘compelling to the non-professional and over interpreted’.
What does this mean for comms pros?
The fact, of course, remains that Lucy Letby was convicted of killing seven babies in her care and attempting to kill seven others. The Court of Appeal dismissed her leave to appeal on all grounds.
Clearly, using statistics to make decisions on strategic and tactical communications, and to determine in court whether someone is guilty of very serious crimes, are two very different things.
But as comms pros, the broader issue around unwitting bias in the use of statistics gives us something to think about.
When we have a theory or strong feeling about a course of action, there may be a risk that we focus on finding data to confirm this - and close off our minds from seeking other data that may suggest alternative and less convenient explanations. As Prof Green says: “We humans are terribly good at seeing patterns when they’re not there.”
For a more detailed understanding of how cognitive biases can lead us astray, have a look at this accessible article from Science - and in particular the boxout ‘A murderous nurse at work - or just coincidence?’ (which relates to another court case in the Netherlands).
Beeb shows way (again) on data storytelling
Earlier this month a hard hitting news story by the BBC data team used Freedom of Information (FoI) to reveal how the country has lost one in 20 libraries since 2016.
And the story cleverly mapped FoI responses onto the government's Indices of Multiple Deprivation (IMD) - which then revealed the poorest areas were around four times more likely to lose a local venue than the richest.
What does this mean for comms pros?
The way data journalists are increasingly exploring and finding stories is something comms professionals involved in protecting reputation need to note.
I’m a big advocate of exploring ways of bringing datasets together for your own ‘scoops’ - and believe this is something that comms teams could be doing more with.
But clearly data skills and a degree of literacy is needed, which comms isn’t known for. So it’s an opportunity and a challenge.
Pleased to be an Orlo Community Partner!
Since getting involved with Orlo’s 2024 Tour in Glasgow and Manchester, I’ve loved the energy and kindness of its people, its professionalism, and its commitment to supporting comms pros in the public and not for profit sector.
So it’s an honour to be asked to become an Orlo Community Partner. I’ll be working with them in events, content and supporting and informing customers on how to maximise insights from data. Exciting times ahead!
If you work in not for profit comms, Orlo is running another Tour event in London on Wed 20 November. Sign up here for free.
Helping a suicide charity drive policy change
Trigger warning: talks about teen suicide
The aim of the Molly Rose Foundation, set up following Molly Russell’s tragic death in 2017, is suicide prevention, targeted towards young people under the age of 25.
It was great to see new MRF CEO Andy Burrows on the famous BBC Breakfast red sofa in August, talking about new research that shows social media companies need to do more - much more - to address self harm content that appears on their platforms.
I was pleased to be asked by Andy to help support a new report which captured and analysed cumbersome but important EU reporting data, to shed light on how the likes of Meta and X deal with harmful content.
As a dad to two teen/tween girls this is some of the most important work I do. It’s very rewarding to work with a campaigning organisation that sees the opportunity for using public data to drive media coverage and policy change.
If you are a charity and want to explore more data driven advocacy work, drop me a line.
Data to inform university impact tactics
I’ve been busy over the past few months exploring how universities can best utilise UK Government Areas of Research Interest (ARIs) for engagement and impact.
My new data-informed report on ARIs was the focus of a presentation to the STEMPRA North network of science press officers and communicators in Liverpool.
I’ll be running a free Webinar with the Universities Policy Engagement Network (UPEN) on 16 October to discuss some of the findings from my report - if you work in higher education you can sign up here.
Drop me a line alex@whetstonecomms.com to find out more about getting a copy of the report.
Types of work I do, with people just like you
- Workshops: Data usage (including AI) for comms pros: audience insights, campaign tactics, storytelling and evaluation.
- Projects: Social media data deep dives, using analysis of big datasets for better outcomes and efficiency, with recommendations to drive your work forwards.
- Thought leadership: Keynote sessions, 1:1 support and editorial pieces on data in comms.
- Bespoke consultancy: Data mining, cleaning and merging of datasets, data for storytelling, thematic analysis of big content datasets, advising on good practice.
If you work in comms and want to make more use of data in 2025 and beyond, drop me a line at alex@whetstonecomms.com. I currently have availability from December 2024 onwards.
Data Communications Chronicles is written by Alex Waddington, founder of Whetstone Communications, which helps public sector and not for profit comms teams do more - and deliver more - using data.