Three international communications groups have allied in an attempt to bring much-needed standardisation to social media measurement.

The UK-based International Association for Measurement and Evaluation of Communication (AMEC) and the US-based Council of PR Firms and Institute for Public Relations have been holding public forums over the last year and a half in order to agree on standards for the developing online communication channels.

The groups aim to define, develop and promote industry-leading standards for social media measurement, says coalition chair, Tim Marklein. “Too many of the social media measurement options available today are based on proprietary tools and methods that can’t be easily replicated across brands, campaigns and organisations,” he continues.

“As a coalition, we intend to break down those barriers and map out a path to standards that address key social media measurement challenges, including content sourcing, influence, sentiment, engagement and ROI among others.”

It is hoped that acting now to define standards of measurement will negate the risk of fragmented, inconsistent and proprietary measurement methods existing in the future. Richard Bagnall, chair of AMEC’s Social Media Measurement Group, says, “Rather than allowing spurious metrics to stand a chance of getting a hold in our industry, the time is right for PR professionals to once more come together to guide the industry to the best way to measure its work.”

National or international organisations that want to support the coalition or contribute ideas can contact Barry Leggetter, executive director of AMEC, at [email protected]