Healthcare Social Media Tracker Launched

Process efficiency specialist OpenConnect and media analytics firm the Global Language Monitor (GLM) have teamed up to launch the Healthcare NarrativeTracker Index™ (NTI), which will use social media-based monitoring to better understand the issues driving healthcare reform.

The firms say the Healthcare NTI 'provides a real-time, accurate picture of what the public is saying about any topic related to healthcare, at any point in time'. An additional service, the Narrative Tracker Arc, will follow sub-stories within the main narrative to round out an overview of opinions.

The Healthcare NTI will be released on a monthly basis beginning Thursday, May 13. The tool uses the GLM's Predictive Quantities Indicator (PQI), which tracks the frequency of words and phrases in global print and electronic media on the Internet, weighting them and factoring in long- and short-term trends and momentum.

OpenConnect CEO Edward ML Peters says the system has two advantages over traditional polls: immediacy and 'the lack of any bias that tends to creep into traditional polling, e.g., when individuals answer questions with what they think are the 'correct' answers rather than their true opinions.'

Web sites are at www.oc.com and www.languagemonitor.com .