Public1
We provide governments, NGOs, foundations, research centers, and businesses with an in-
depth understanding of their targeted audiences and public concerns at large. Our innovative
social listening methodology combines technology and human insight to collect millions of
communications across social media platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, blogs,
conversation forums, and other outlets. We analyze public perceptions of an issue at scale, from
local to global.
Bakamo’s strategic social intelligence services provide organizations with the ability to identify
data points of public sentiment among various constituencies in real-time and without the bias of
a formal survey. In turn, Bakamo’s recommendations are adjusted as needed by continuing to
monitor public feedback, further enhancing the effectiveness of our methodology.
In the past six years, Bakamo has successfully assisted numerous organizations on such issues
as Russian and Chinese disinformation on elections, human rights, migration, authoritarianism,
and anti-vaccination.
Our team consists of leading social intelligence, data analysts, policy, and international
development experts and is supported by more than 250, in-country native speakers across the
globe who provide local context for conversations. Bakamo services include:
- Countering disinformation
- Understanding and improving the public perception of organizations
- Advocacy and outreach
- Policy and program development
- Countering violent extremism
- Media
- Evaluation of programs
- Bakamo snapshot
Bakamo determines what attracts some audiences and not others
to consume and share state and non-state-sponsored disinformation campaigns and makes
targeted recommendations for countering disinformation. Bakamo’s approach reaches the roots
of his/disinformation by identifying the perceptions and beliefs shared by susceptible
audiences. Bakamo researched the social media landscape in connection with the 2017 French
Presidential Election and identified four methods used to introduce disinformation into the
French political discourse: using fake polls, creating hoax sites, taking news out of temporal
context, and planting false stories on an otherwise credible platform. Bakamo shared these
findings with the media, which enabled them to identify and avoid reporting on fake news and
disinformation.
Bakamo engages in
audience-specific analysis to develop targeted recommendations for enhancing an
organization’s reputation. Bakamo’s analysis pinpoints individual and group values, concerns,
and ideas that shape public opinion of organizations such as foundations, aid agencies,
corporations, and diplomatic missions. Bakamo worked with UNICEF in Hungary to understand
why people distrusted them and helped to redesign their communication strategies to improve
their public image. Bakamo, in partnership with the McCain Institute, is currently implementing a
State Department-funded project to assess and improve the public perception of NATO in 50
countries.
Bakamo enhances organizations’ ability to reach targeted audiences
and the general public by developing online campaigns that reflect the natural context of
conversations. Bakamo’s recommendations import the language, tone, and syntax as
expressed by social media users. Bakamo worked with Amnesty International in Germany to
change the anti-immigration and anti-Islam narratives by providing forty NGOs and human rights
groups with coordinated responses to anti-immigration and anti-Islam misinformation. This
included promoting narratives that identified and emphasized common ground, such as Muslims
belonging to the LGBTQ community and working as healthcare providers, to change public
perceptions of Islam.
Bakamo’s ability to capture opinion without losing the
insight gathered from individual communications produces demand-driven recommendations
that meet the needs of the public. Bakamo’s recommendations help organizations develop
programs that are responsive to public concerns, values, and ideals. Friedrich Ebert Stiftung
commissioned Bakamo to conduct social media listening surrounding migration in 28 member
states of the European Union. We found that local interpretations of security and identity were
dominating local attitudes toward migration and recommended that progressive actors counter
anti-migration narratives by incorporating these concerns into a Pan-European narrative.
Bakamo’s CVE training uses social media intelligence to
identify the “rabbit holes” extremists use to lead vulnerable audiences down the path to
radicalization. Bakamo then provides a roadmap to nullify the extreme narratives at specific
stages of the radicalization process. Working with counter-terrorism professionals from across
Europe, Bakamo conducted a study and led training workshops for EU members of the
European Strategic Communication Network on how to nullify the far-right disinformation
intended to radicalize jihadists.
Bakamo assists media outlets with reaching their intended audiences by identifying what
content their consumers gravitate towards and by helping media outlets meet these needs. This
includes locating where their intended audiences are engaging with online content, how the
issue they are discussing appears on a variety of platforms and why specific media outlets, or
the media more broadly, experience negative reactions from the public.
Bakamo’s analysis provides:
- An enhanced understanding of target audience needs
- Data-driven recommendations to meet target audience needs
- Strategies to counter identified misinformation if necessary
- Data sets that help managers/owners design a more viable business model
Bakamo has conducted multiple studies for Netflix on content development and strategic use of
account sharing to drive growth. We also worked with Ofcom, UK’s communications regulator,
to conduct an in-depth analysis of peoples’ perception of BBC News. Some of the findings
included that perceptions of BBC were driven by audiences’ political leanings (the left wanted
fewer opinions while the right wanted more), but both groups were united in their dislike for
unscripted talk shows, e.g., Hard Talk, which they found to be rude to their respective political
leaders.
Bakamo helps governments, NGOs, and foundations with assessing
the impact of their programs and grants by listening to public opinion across the social media
landscape. Using keyword search queries designed by our team of researchers,
communications experts, and analysts, Bakamo captures relevant conversations surrounding
organizations’ programs. Open Societies Foundation (OSF) commissioned Bakamo to analyze
the public’s receptiveness to the foundation’s development programs. Bakamo found that OSF’s
activities were perceived by the public as undermining select individual rights, such as the right
to social benefits, and recommended that OSF avoid promoting a political agenda and instead
appeal to shared human values.
Bakamo’s “snapshot” service provides a quick and low-cost study that
captures several indices of conversation activity on a concrete topic chosen by the client.
Bakamo’s snapshot can identify the total conversation size surrounding the topic, on which
platforms the conversations are taking place, fluctuations in conversation activity, what
demographics are engaging in the conversation, overlapping relevant topics, and a sample of
the actual conversations. Bakamo provided a snapshot study of the conversation surrounding tourism during the coronavirus pandemic. Almost three hundred thousand conversations were
collected and analyzed. Bakamo found that most of the conversations were about the possibility
of travelling again once restrictions were lifted, and that female voices were dominating the
conversation. Overlapping relevant topics included financial barriers, 14 days quarantine policy,
domestic holidays, and insurance policies.
About us
We combine the best of technology and human-led analysis to unlock deeply-buried insights
just by listening to people’s conversations on social media.
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We read and interpret online conversations to help brands and organizations develop strategies and tactics that resonate with audiences and consumers.