Since April 2011 ]init[ has been carrying out weekly Social Media Monitoring for the Federal Ministry of Economics in the networks Twitter and Facebook. It is the aim of the report to identify terms and topics which relate to the Ministry and are discussed the most. Additionally the articles are being analyzed with regard to the question if they communicate positive or negative associations or if they purely serve the spreading of information.

By this means the public relations department of the BMWi regularly receives real-time information on the development of the relevance of current topics over a longer period of time and on the question which main topics should be put in the focus of public perception.

Social Media Monitoring is an indispensable source to evaluate media because citizens are increasingly discussing political topics and developments in social networks. Meanwhile social networks reach high public visibility and range which comes close to the relevance of traditional media.