Next Steps with the News - An Update on Nexis Analyser
Jinfo Blog

By Chris Porter

Abstract

Chris Porter provides an update on Nexis Analyser, an add-on to the Nexis business aggregation database that helps users explore changes in news coverage over time, then turn their research conclusions rapidly into a presentation-ready format.

Item

How does this potential acquisition target stack up against its peers in terms of media buzz around new product releases or management moves?

Are there any reported problems with that potential supplier's goods or services, compared to its primary competitors - and are the problems increasing or declining?

And how on earth do I figure all that out from a mass of media headlines, then present the conclusions to my senior management in a meaningful way?

Gathering News

Questions such as these present all-too-familiar challenges for many information professionals; and rising to those challenges can often mean hours of painstaking work.

The typical model for a business news alerting and research service is to present the researcher with long lists of headlines, plus (in most, though not all, cases) further tools for drill-down based on indexing categories, word clouds or volumes of coverage over time.

Analysing the News

The next steps? Email a group of articles, or pop them into a newsletter format, with a covering comment? OK, that is supported. Anything else? You may well find that you are left to perform your own form of interpretation and disseminate your conclusions in whatever format you devise.

Global information provider LexisNexis has been giving some serious thought to those next steps.

Its Nexis Analyser starts with a standard Nexis search query, then offers the user a series of extra analysis options, beyond the usual, as shown below:

Figure 1: Analysis options

The options lead the user to build a graphical display of their search results, leveraging both free text and the power of the company's proprietary LexisNexis SmartIndexing content taxonomy.

Refining the Results

It also gives them tools to refine that results set. Decide an article is irrelevant? Simply remove it from the results. Want to gain a sense of relative evolution of coverage of two key companies over time? Instantly drop in a trend line. Turn your results into a usable chart? A few clicks to tidy up the display, add your choice of title and away you go.

FreePint first reviewed the service in early 2013, when it was positioned as a tool to help PR and communications professionals to analyse the success of media campaigns, as well as supporting competitive intelligence, sales and strategy roles.

Our 2014 review reports on the updates and latest developments since our 2013 assessment.

Editor's Note

FreePint Subscribers can log in to read and share more in Mini Review: Nexis Analyser.

The FreePint Topic Series: News, and Beyond runs from October-December 2014. Register your interest now, and you'll also get a free PDF report with selected premium articles when it's published in December.

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