Yonder, a social intelligence provider, and Edelman, the leading global communications firm, today announced the release of a joint platform designed to show how disinformation originates online and provide proactive recommendations to help businesses strengthen and protect their brand integrity against this growing threat.
2020 brought the global disinformation crisis to the forefront of the public eye, solidifying disinformation as a threat that is no longer the exclusive provenance of nation-state attackers and activists but increasingly threatens corporate America. Edelman’s 2021 Trust Barometer reveals an epidemic of disinformation, with more than two out of three executives at large global companies worrying about the weaponization of false information.
“The breakdown of traditional communications infrastructure has repositioned businesses from standalone brands to information regulators,” said Jonathon Morgan, CEO of Yonder. “In this environment, the responsibilities for communications teams are both expanding and increasing in importance. Unfortunately, there are no playbooks for many of the scenarios that these teams are expected to manage, and the tools they are currently using weren’t built with this functionality in mind.”
To be successful in the disinformation minefield and avoid surprise crises, strategic communications teams must address the gaps in their current tech stack and look to proactive intelligence that can address harmful online activity – before the damage is done. Key benefits of the Yonder + Edelman platform include:
- Detecting Potentially Harmful Activity Online: Identify damaging narratives in their earliest stages to understand who and what is driving them and how likely they are to cause damage to a brand
- Gathering Proactive Insights to Guide Response: Utilize data to identify when information is reliable, when it’s manipulated, and how it’s being engaged with to support more informed communication strategies
- Strengthening Trust Among Consumers: Ensure external communications are aligned with consumer expectations and values to avoid a potentially harmful crisis and retain customer trust
“We’re applying new technology and methodology to understand trust in real time across geographies and audiences,” said Yannis Kotziagkiaouridis, Edelman’s Chief Data & Analytics Officer and Head of Edelman Data & Intelligence (DxI). “By combining Edelman’s trusted method of client services with Yonder’s data-backed intelligent technology, businesses will be better able to identify their allies and adversaries online and navigate today’s complex communication landscape.”
Ultimately, it matters not whether a business is a video game retailer, an e-commerce company, or a public health organization. The reality of today’s internet infrastructure is the same for every business across every industry: No brand is impervious to the power and influence of agenda-driven factions or the massive reputational implications of the disinformation they often spread.
About Yonder
Yonder is an artificial intelligence company that discovers the hidden groups who control and amplify online narratives so companies can navigate an unpredictable, ever-evolving internet with confidence. We enable brands like Walmart, Disney, Bumble and Johnson & Johnson to take a proactive brand stance, leveraging hyper-active online groups (called factions) that are aligned with or adversarial to their brand. Yonder was founded in 2017 by experts in online radicalization, counterterrorism, data science and digital media and was the first company to address disinformation at scale. The company is on a mission to humanize the world’s information and deliver on the promise of a more authentic internet.
About Edelman
Edelman is a global communications firm that partners with businesses and organizations to evolve, promote and protect their brands and reputations. Our 6,000 people in more than 60 offices deliver communications strategies that give our clients the confidence to lead and act with certainty, earning the trust of their stakeholders. Our honors include the Cannes Lions Grand Prix for PR; Advertising Age’s 2019 A-List; the Holmes Report’s 2018 Global Digital Agency of the Year; and, five times, Glassdoor’s Best Places to Work. Since our founding in 1952, we have remained an independent, family-run business. Edelman owns specialty companies Edelman Data x Intelligence (research, data) and United Entertainment Group (entertainment, sports, lifestyle).
About Edelman Data x Intelligence
Edelman Data & Intelligence (DxI) is a global, multidisciplinary research, analytics and data consultancy with a distinctly human mission. We use data and intelligence to help businesses and organizations build trusting relationships with people: making communications more authentic, engagement more exciting and connections more meaningful. DxI brings together and integrates the necessary people-based PR, communications, social, research and exogenous data, as well as the technology infrastructure to create, collect, store and manage first-party data and identity resolution. DxI is comprised of over 350 research specialists, business scientists, data engineers, behavioral and machine-learning experts and data strategy consultants based in 15 markets around the world.
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