APCO Launches Groundbreaking Blog Analysis Initiative
Washington, D.C. (November 13, 2007) – APCO Worldwide today unveiled a pioneering Web initiative aimed at capturing and analyzing thought leadership in the blogosphere, Evan Kraus, director of APCO Online®, announced.
Virtual Vantage Points (VVP) compares and contrasts online discussions of top bloggers from a range of communities and examines the relevance of these discussions within the broader context of politics, business and public opinion.
"Blogs are influencing public discourse in ways we never imagined possible," said Kraus. "Virtual Vantage Points provides snapshot views of what Web-based thought leaders are saying, as well as a breakdown of how those conversations fit into the complex tapestry of media, government, business and personal opinion. This innovative use of technology combined with forward-looking analysis is unparalleled – and incredibly powerful."
Craig Fuller, former chief of staff to Vice President George H.W. Bush, will be joined by other top APCO consultants, including corporate responsibility expert Trevor Neilson, UK political strategist Darren Murphy and health policy expert Bill Pierce, in analyzing the VVP's data. They compare the discussions between distinct online groups and examine how they can differ from medium to medium – even when the same people are talking.
"Blogs are an incredible demonstration of how new media is democratizing public policy debates that used to be limited to talking heads," said Fuller. "Virtual Vantage Points pulls the thinking of the Web's most important bloggers into one cohesive picture. The result provides insights not gained through any other process."
The APCO Online team uses existing tools – and creates new ones – to identify online leaders and examine the discussions taking place in well-defined blog communities comprised of everything from politicians to environmentalists, health care providers to stay-at-home parents. APCO Online identifies the top blogs for each relevant community as measured by leading services such as Google and Technorati. Once groups are identified, collected RSS feeds are used to generate a text cloud that shows what topics are most important to the selected groups. These are contrasted and contextualized by APCO's team of expert analysts. For more information, go to www.virtualvantagepoints.com.
About APCO Worldwide
Founded in 1984, APCO Worldwide is an independently owned global communication consultancy with offices in major cities throughout the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia. APCO was named 2007 PR Agency of the Year by PRNews; 2006 Agency of the Year by PRWeek; 2007, 2006 and 2005 European Consultancy of the Year by Public Affairs News; and 2004 Public Affairs Agency of the Year by The Holmes Report. Clients include corporations, governments, industry associations and nonprofit organizations. Headquartered in Washington, D.C., APCO includes among its clients seven of the top 10 companies on Fortune’s Global 500. Core services include corporate, investor and internal communication; crisis management; issue management; government relations; litigation communication; media relations; coalition building; opinion research; market entry; corporate responsibility; and online communication. APCO is a majority women-owned business. For more information, please visit www.apcoworldwide.com.
Contact:
Elizabeth Wolf
+1.202.778.1470
ewolf@apcoworldwide.com