Extreme Dialogue: Social Media Target Audience Analysis and Impact Assessments in Support of Countering Violent Extremism
Project Title
Social Media Target Audience Analysis: Measuring the Impact of Counter Narrative Resources for Educational Professionals in Canada
Lead / Author
The SecDev Foundation
Relevant Dates
Published March 2016.
Description
This report presents findings about what worked over the course of a coordinated series of activities making up the Canadian launch of the ‘Extreme Dialogue’ counter-narrative educational resource.
Part of a 16-month project conducted by the Institute of Strategic Dialogue (ISD) and The SecDev Foundation, the study tracked the reach and resonance of one of ISD’s main countering violent extremism (CVE) initiatives. Extreme Dialogue is an educational program involving a series of awareness-raising films that aim to reduce the appeal of violent extremism among young people and offer positive alternatives on the Internet. The resource also includes material designed to guide use of the films in classroom or community settings. For the launch, targeted engagements on social media and with Canadian press were used to raise awareness, with the ultimate aim being to reduce the risk of becoming involved in violent extremism. The Extreme Dialogue campaign was launched on February 17, 2015 with The SecDev Foundation tracking its progress during a week-long launch period and beyond.
To evaluate success, the study focuses on how the campaign generated online reach, awareness and engagement, and tries to assess potential impact on audiences, with the aim of informing governments and social media companies in their efforts to support civil society groups and practitioners in becoming more effective at challenging narratives of violent extremism. Specifically, the study aims to answer not only questions such as the number of viewers, but the level of interaction with the content, and whether it sparked critical thinking and discussions about violent extremism among key audiences.
To support such analysis, the SecDev Foundation and ISD worked together to help disseminate information about the campaign to key audiences, especially youth, teachers and parents in cities with recent experiences of events involving violent extremism, focusing on distribution through Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.
Select Findings
Overall, the authors’ analysis finds that the campaign, with its counter-narrative content supported by an extensive press and online dissemination, was successful at generating exposure and coverage. The initiative was less successful, however, in converting this exposure and coverage into continuing levels of engagement beyond the one-week launch period. While viewing times and viewer retention rates for the videos suggested that the audience found them interesting, those brought to the videos through paid advertising had much lower engagement rates. The campaign was also limited by the inability to advertise to the target audience (14-25 year olds) on some platforms as those below 18 cannot be targeted for advertisement. Social media engagement among youth was also quite low, limiting the organic momentum of the campaign.
More specifically, analysis of the results found that the Extreme Dialogue website was most useful in promoting engagement with the material among those 25 years of age and older, while youth were found to be more engaged with the content through social media. YouTube presented the most effective platform for reaching those in the 18-24 year old cohort, with advertising generating a large number of impressions. As noted above, though, ongoing momentum – or ‘organic’ attraction, retention and engagement – was much lower among those initially reached through advertising.
Facebook proved to be the most effective platform for targeting older users, with advertisements targeting parents performing better than those aimed at youth. It was also determined that Facebook was the platform best suited for organic outreach and engagement. The Extreme Dialogue Twitter account proved to be the most effective at engaging users from outside the project’s target audiences, but these were mainly individuals from within ISD’s existing social media-based network of followers.
Overall, paid-for advertising provided the campaign with initial momentum, but the impact was not sustained, as unpaid and organic reach and engagement dropped off.
Given their findings, the researchers recommended a number of best practices for online counter-narrative campaigns. These include: the creation of a memorable band and strong content; a clearly defined strategy to meet set objectives; the development of a strategy that must take into account how the platforms, mediums and tactics are used to reach target audiences; appropriate allocation of resources, including more sustained advertising; establishment of a framework for evaluation; and a final assessment to inform the refinement of strategies and tactics.
Further Information
Related Initiatives
“Prevent Violent Extremism: A Research Portal”, The SecDev Group, https://preventviolentextremism.info/
The SecDev Group, “Social Media, Online Networks and the Prevention of Violent Extremism: Kanishka Research and Lessons Learned. Summary Overview,” 2014
“Extreme Dialogue,” Institute for Strategic Dialogue, http://extremedialogue.org/
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