THE 5 STAGES OF THE CRITICAL PROCESS 2
The 5 stages of the Critical Process
Andrew Fisher
Kings College
Summary
Brian Stelter’s article titled, “Nielsen to Measure Twitter Chatter About TV Shows,” begins with him sharing a statistic. According to Nielsen, an American global information and measurement company, 98,600 people tweeted something about the season premiere of “Grey’s Anatomy.” In reality, that’s only a small portion of the 9.3 million viewers that actually watched the show that night. For reasons such as this, Nielsen is introducing Nielsen Twitter TV Ratings, to measure what they are calling the “unique audience.” The company hopes to utilize the power and reach of social media, via Twitter, to provide more of an overview of the popular television shows that people are talking about. This product was first announced last year, and it is set to measure the amount of Twitter activity and conversation directed towards television shows. According to Andrew Somosi, chief executive of SocialGuide, a Nielsen acquired company brought in last year to assist them in creating this new product, “this is going to be a credibility-building moment for the industry”( Stelter, 2013). Somosi went on to explain that a simple post about a television shows such as (“Can’t wait for “The Walking Dead” to start”) is just the beginning. When in full gear, the measurements not only hope to find how many people tweeted about a particular show, but how many people saw those tweets. For example, according to Nielsen, of the 225,000 tweets about the season premiere of “Grey’s Anatomy,” it was seen by 2.8 million people with a twitter account. The article goes on to say, that in previous studies, Twitter activity has at times boosted the amount of viewers watching that particular show. In order to impress prospective investors, Twitter has made alliances with the television industry, a major priority. Promotions and advertisements will start for this product by television networks and will work the same way broadcast ratings are promoted. However, skepticism has some people asking if a brief post on twitter on a mobile device is enough? Also, what qualifications would be considered a legitimate post and what would not?
Description of Critical Process
There are five steps in the critical process. The first step is description. In this step, the reader pays close attention when reading the article, taking notes throughout. The inverted pyramid is used also in order to gather information more efficiently. Using the words who, what, when, where, why and how, the reader gathers pertinent information about the article. For example, the reader may ask: who is in the article or the subject of the article, what is happening, when is it happening, where is it happening, why is it happening and how is it happening? In utilizing these questions, the reader can identify central characters, conflicts, topics, themes etc. In this step, the reader may also recognize what is possibly missing from the article. Could the story have been told differently?
Analysis is the second step in this process. Here, the reader is focusing in on important patterns that may stand out from the description stage. Whether there are recurring topics, or possibly something that wasn’t said. How is the material presented? Are expert on the topic quoted? Does the writer use statistical information in proving a point?
The third step in the critical process is interpretation. This step is the most difficult of the critiquing process. It deals with asking the questions “so what,” and “what does the mean,” when trying to process the information at hand. The reader is searching for some kind of explanation and relevance to what he/she just read. For example, if something in the article is done a certain way or has a special meaning, it is defined and explained in this step.
Evaluation is the fourth important step in this process. Here the reader makes an assessment or judgment about the significance of what they have read. Relying on the critical process of the prior three steps, the reader is able to recognize what the article’s strengths and weakness are and come to a conclusion about whether something is right or wrong, good or bad, or just mediocre.
The fifth and final step in the critical process is engagement. Here, the reader steps back from the critical analysis process and decides how he or she is going to take action on what they have read through a media outlet. This is where the reader makes a connection to the material and through their own perspective, gets involved in order to effect change. Readers can do that by sending an e-mail, writing a letter, participating in online chats about the topics or by making phone calls to different offices of media and or the government.
Utilization of the Five Steps of the Critical Process
Description
In a New York Times article published on October 6, Brian Stelter reports on Nielsen’s attempt to utilize social media via Twitter, to measure television viewing preferences. The article, titled, “Nielsen to Measure Twitter Chatter About TV Shows,” outlines Nielsen’s plans to introduce Nielsen Twitter TV Ratings on Monday, October 7, in the hope of measuring what they call the “unique audience.” According to the article, the company plans to measure “all the activity and reach of Twitter conversations about shows.” Andrew Somosi, chief executive of SocialGuide, the analytics company acquired by Nielsen to oversee this venture is quoted as saying, “We feel this is going to be a credibility-building moment for the industry.” The article points out that Twitter is busy forming alliances with the television industry and making it a top priority. The article utilizes a lot of statistical data regarding television viewership and Twitter posts in reporting on the story. The article also includes criticism about the prospect of the new Nielsen Twitter TV Ratings product and the credibility of Twitter. Ed Keller, chief executive of the Keller Fox Group, a market research firm that specializes in word of mouth and supplies data to networks like CBS, is quoted as saying, “What people often lose sight of is the fact that the overwhelming majority of conversations about TV shows still take place offline.” The article presents both the appeal of Twitter in broadening the scope of how Nielsen collects data regarding television viewing, as well as the downside and possible unreliability of collecting such data from a social media source like Twitter.
Analysis
Given the fact that the article is about Nielsen, a company whose job it is to collect data and interpret statistical information, it is not surprising that the article relies on much statistical analysis to cover the topic. Information such as “98,600 people wrote messages on Twitter about the two-hour premiere of ‘Grey’s Anatomy’” and “9.3 million people watched the show that night,” was included in this article along with other convincing statistical information. Also present in the article were quotes from industry executives that served to lend credibility to the article. Quotes offered the pros and cons of collected such data using Twitter as a back drop. Those were specific patterns that emerged from the article.
Interpretation
In an attempt to process the information in the article, the first question is what does all this mean and so what? Does this mean that Twitter and other social media outlets can influence what people watch and what people think of a certain program? According to the article this phenomenon is called “social TV” and Nielsen is trying to measure what it calls “the unique audience.” Although the article does claim that “previous research has found that Twitter activity sometimes spurs viewership, it does not mention what that research was and what the exact findings were. Given that fact that this approach to data collection is still in the early stages, no one will know exactly what the impact of Twitter is on viewership until some significant data is collected and evaluated.
Evaluation
As social media grows and expands and as people freely offer their likes and dislikes via outlets such as Twitter and Facebook, so should the concept of data collection using these outlets. This article serves to only inform the reader that Nielsen is planning to embark on this new venture. It is too soon to pass judgment on how reliable the information will be or how it will truly affect one’s opinion of a certain television show. The article in its presentation seemed fair enough as it did address both the pros and cons of Twitter as a valid and reliable data collection source. Interestingly enough the article did not include the influence of other social outlets such as Facebook which also includes posts and statements about television programs. What the article does point out is the growing popularity of Twitter and as such people use it as a sounding board. It therefore makes great sense to use Twitter as an instrument in which to collect data for the purposes of measuring television viewing and preferences.
Engagement
Most college students utilize social media quite a bit. Whether it is Facebook, Twitter or Instagram, students use social media as a way to stay connected with friends and family. That is why this article would resonate with most people, especially the college student who uses Twitter to tweet about everything from great music, to movies and television programs. The idea that Nielsen plans to measure television viewership through Twitter is just a sign of the times. For people to feel that they can perhaps influence others through their opinions is empowering. Many social media outlets already track people’s spending habits and preferences any time they click on or purchase anything online. Facebook tracks likes and dislikes with the click of the mouse. Therefore the article is both relevant and realist to most people of the social media generation.
Paper Analysis
When I first started researching for an article to critique with the critical process, I found it hard to find one that interested me. I used search engines such as Google scholar and EBSCOhost, however I found those article to be very long and extensive for this specific paper. I then started to look into newspapers such as The New York Times. I came across a media article that caught my eye. After reading it and utilizing the critical process, I found it much easier and simpler to understand. When breaking the article down into the 5 stages: description, analysis, interpretation, evaluation and engagement, I was able to isolate different parts of the article to critique. With the career I am perusing, this process will continue to reappear. Therefore, learning it as early as I are now, will make me an expert by the time I hope to be employed. Overall, I found this paper to be very useful.
References
Stelter, Brian, (2013). Nielsen to Measure Twitter Chatter About TV Shows. New York Times. Retrieved from: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/07/business/media/nielsen-to-measure-twitter-chatter