Позитивные изменения. Том 2, № 1 (2022). Positive changes. Volume 2, Issue 1 (2022)

SOL Social Innovation Support Center

The research aimed to analyze posts and articles published from April 1 5, 2020 to April 1 5, 2021 and had two main objectives: 1) to analyze the informational presence of the terms "impact” and "impact investing" in traditional media and on social media; 2) to explore the semantic structure of impact investing. Russian traditional and social media outlets were used as data collection sources.

For each objective, a different analytical framework and a specific set of parameters were used. The analysis of the informational presence of the term "impact” in traditional media considered the following parameters:

• mention dynamics;

• event flow structure;

• top sources and platforms;

• tone of discussion;

• engagement and coverage (for social media).

The semantic analysis of the term "impact investing” aimed to identify words, word forms, categories, and attitudes most frequently used in traditional media and on social media in relation to this term. The Medialogia system was used for monitoring a wide range of media sources with the exception of news aggregators, press release distribution services, and official government websites. YouScan was chosen for social media monitoring.

THE TERM «IMPACT» IN TRADITIONAL MEDIA

During the period under review, the term "impact” received 1,801 mentions in traditional media, being used by an average of around 138 sources a month. Notably, only 6 % of them placed a special emphasis on it by putting the word "impact” in the headline.

It's worth noting that the term "impact” was often used in meanings other than "social influence”. It was most frequently mentioned in the coverage of sports and esports (36 % of the total number of mentions) as well as in the articles on science and education (36 % of the total number of mentions). In both cases, the high percentage of mentions was due to news stories that had no connection to social entrepreneurship and innovations. Most scientific papers discussed the impact factor of science journals, which is a measure reflecting the average number of citations to articles published in science journals, regardless of whether they address the topic of social impact or not. In sports media, the Montreal Impact football club received the highest number of mentions, with its name being mentioned in 370 articles. In esports, the word "impact” was used to refer to weapon damage in video games.

When similar meanings of the two terms are concerned, it can’t be said that “impact” has significantly more mentions than “impact investing.”

This doesn't mean that traditional media shows no interest in the term "impact” in the meaning of "social impact” or ignores it completely. 13 % of the total number of mentions are associated with the impact economy. They include articles on social projects and entrepreneurial activities aimed at bringing positive changes to social processes. Among the articles on the impact economy, the highest number of mentions was received by Impact Hub Moscow, a center for social innovation that runs the 90 Days Challenge incubation program for Russian impact projects. It should be noted that the company doesn't just have the word "impact” in its name but also uses it in the names of most of its projects, such as the Social Impact Award.

The art and culture sector was also concerned with social changes (3 % of the total number of mentions), with the most media attention focused on the impact of film production, which is a topic related to the impact economy. The highest number of mentions was received by the National Media Group with its Headliners: Impact Media project, which aims to promote content driving positive social changes.

The articles on the space industry make up 7 % of the total number of mentions, with the word "impact” being primarily used in the names of space programs and missions. The main space news sources include Roscosmos, the International Space Station, and NASA. In the research, the key sources were similarly identified for each subject area.

To summarize, the research identified three main characteristics of the informational presence of the term "impact” in traditional media:

1. The articles on economy and culture use the term "impact” almost identically, placing the main focus on social good. In some articles on entrepreneurial initiatives, the term "impact” is used synonymously to "CSR” (corporate social responsibility).

2. In sports and the space industry, the word "impact” is encountered mostly in names, such as Montreal Impact, Impact Wrestling (American wrestling promotion), the Impact experiment (Roscosmos project), and Deep Impact (NASA space probe).