Nielsen listens to Facebook chatter

Much of that chatting on Facebook about TV shows will soon be factored into Nielsen’s social TV rankings.

The research firm’s social media unit is improving its current Twitter TV ratings — started in 2013, as complementary to its traditional broadcast TV ratings — by adding Facebook activity to create new social content ratings. Like the current Twitter TV ratings, the social content ratings will track online activity around live TV events.

“This is the next big step for us because now for the first time we are going to be able to really have a holistic understanding of the social activity across platform(s),” said Sean Casey, president of Nielsen Social.

Facebook activity will be integrated into the ratings during the first half of 2016, with Instagram activity expected to be added after, Casey said. USA Today