Go Beyond Social Listening: Using Narrative Intelligence to Counter Misinformation and Disinformation

Blackbird.AI’s mission is to protect organizations from narrative attacks created by misinformation and disinformation, enabling trust, safety, and integrity. We founded the company in 2017 with the idea that technology empowers organizations—both in the private and public sectors—with cutting-edge AI that can detect, analyze, and mitigate the risks of narrative attacks. 

Tackling this problem requires like-minded allies, so we brought together an incredible panel of technology and communication experts, including Ethan Bauley, Head of Narrative Intelligence at Weber Shandwick, and Mark Hollyhead, VP of EMEA Enterprise at Meltwater.

WATCH: Go Beyond Social Listening: Using Narrative Intelligence to Counter Mis/Disinformation Attacks

Here’s a summary of what we spoke about the webinar:

Organizations should adopt a quantitative approach to tackle narrative attacks and make informed decisions.

Modern strategies focus on specific indicators that track:

• How narratives evolve
• The speed at which they spread (spread velocity)
• How they align across different groups (cohort alignment
• Understanding the involvement of actors, from state entities to bot networks, in shaping narratives is crucial.
  
• These elements are measurable through advanced AI technologies and platforms like Meltwater.
  
• The current landscape presents a unique opportunity for collaboration between data-driven platforms and AI analytics to address narrative attacks.
  
• Despite AI’s power, human intelligence remains essential, and companies like Weber Shandwick offer valuable real-world expertise.
  
• Combining AI-powered analytics and human insight is crucial to combating sophisticated assaults on business operations.
  
• In today’s ecosystem, this approach is increasingly necessary for survival and success, or you may be flying blind.
  

Understanding Narrative Attacks

Narrative attacks are coordinated efforts to spread false, misleading, or harmful information about a company, brand, or individual. They can also take any story, narrative, or out-of-context content and amplify it to create harm. These attacks can manifest in various forms, from social media disinformation campaigns to sophisticated state-sponsored operations. Their ability to spread rapidly across digital platforms, potentially reaching millions within hours, makes them particularly dangerous.

Key actors in narrative attacks include:

1. Influencers with large followings
2. State actors pursuing geopolitical agendas
3. Programmatic bot networks designed to amplify messages

These attacks can be severe, ranging from reputational damage and loss of consumer trust to financial losses and operational disruptions. Organizations must adopt a proactive approach to detecting and combating narrative attacks.

LEARN MORE: What Is Narrative Intelligence?

Key Quantitative Metrics in Narrative Intelligence

A shift from qualitative assessments to quantitative, data-driven insights is crucial in narrative intelligence. Organizations can gain a more accurate and actionable understanding of narrative evolution and spread by focusing on specific, measurable indicators.

Key performance indicators for monitoring include:

1. Velocity of Narrative Growth: Measures how quickly a particular narrative spreads across digital platforms.
2. Cohort Alignment: Identifies how different groups of influencers or under-the-radar accounts work together to promote a specific narrative.
3. Network Cohesion: Assesses the degree to which various nodes in a network coalesce to amplify a harmful narrative.
4. Overall Narrative Reach: Measures the breadth of a narrative’s influence across different platforms and audiences.

These quantitative metrics enable organizations to move beyond subjective assessments and make data-driven decisions in their narrative intelligence strategies.

The Importance of Proactive and Always-On Monitoring

Proactive, continuous monitoring of narratives is critical in today’s fast-paced digital environment. Relying on forensic, after-the-fact analysis is no longer sufficient. “Always-on” analysis that can detect and track narrative shifts in real-time offers several advantages:

1. Early detection of emerging threats
2. Faster response times to potential attacks
3. Continuous insights into narrative evolution and spread
4. Ability to identify patterns and trends over time

Always-on monitoring allows organizations to avoid potential narrative attacks and respond more effectively when threats emerge.

LEARN MORE: Unlocking the Power of Narrative Intelligence

AI and Human Intelligence: A Collaborative Approach

While artificial intelligence plays a crucial role in narrative intelligence, humans must make critical decisions to complete the feedback loop. The most effective approach combines the strengths of both AI and human intelligence.

AI technologies excel at:

1. Analyzing vast amounts of data in real-time
2. Detecting patterns and anomalies that human analysts might miss
3. Quantifying narrative shifts and growth across multiple platforms
4. Providing objective, data-driven insights

Human intelligence remains essential for:

1. Interpreting complex data and contextualizing insights
2. Developing nuanced response strategies
3. Understanding cultural and social factors that influence narrative spread
4. Making ethical decisions about how to respond to narrative attacks

Combining AI-powered analytics with human expertise enables organizations to develop more comprehensive and effective narrative intelligence strategies.

LEARN MORE: Communication Leaders Misinformation & Disinformation Attack Readiness Checklist

Responding to Narrative Attacks: The Role of Collaboration

Collaboration is key in responding to narrative attacks. A multi-faceted approach leverages the strengths of various partners:

1. Data and analytics platforms providing vast amounts of social media and online data
2. AI-powered analytics tools offering purpose-built solutions for detecting and analyzing narrative attacks
3. Communications firms bringing decades of experience in crisis management and public relations

This collaborative approach allows for:

1. More comprehensive data collection and analysis
2. Advanced AI-driven insights into narrative patterns and trends
3. Expert interpretation of data and development of response strategies
4. Real-world experience in managing and mitigating reputational crises

Such collaboration gives organizations a competitive edge in combating sophisticated assaults on business operations.

LEARN MORE: How to Combat Misinformation and Disinformation: Lessons from a Social Media Trust and Safety Experts

The Way Forward – The Future of Narrative Intelligence

As narrative attacks grow in sophistication and prevalence, the ability to detect, analyze, and respond to these threats will be crucial for protecting brand reputation, maintaining consumer trust, and safeguarding business operations.

Key trends in the future of narrative intelligence include:

1. Continued advancements in AI and machine learning technologies
2. Greater integration of narrative intelligence tools with existing business intelligence and marketing platforms
3. Increased focus on cross-platform narrative tracking
4. Development of industry-specific narrative intelligence solutions
5. Growing emphasis on predictive analytics to anticipate potential narrative attacks

I want to thank Ethan and Mark for joining me on this webinar about Going Beyond Social Listening. Narrative intelligence is the new paradigm in understanding what is happening in the information ecosystem. It is a new and growing industry with many nuances and massive threat surfaces. Aligning with partners specializing in different aspects of the problem is key to helping mitigate the harmful effects of narrative attacks and disinformation. Organizations investing in robust narrative intelligence capabilities will be better positioned to navigate the complex digital landscape and avoid massive financial and reputational harm that can be impossible to recover from.

To learn how Blackbird.AI detects narrative attacks through narrative intelligence, book a demo.