Measurement · 6 minute read

What counts as evidence in social listening?

A chart without the posts behind it is a claim. A useful listening system lets you inspect why the chart moved.

The minimum evidence unit

For every matching public post, retain the platform, stable source URL, author handle, publication time, text excerpt, matched term and engagement fields available at collection time. Preserve missing metrics as missing rather than silently treating them as zero.

Volume is not breadth

Twenty mentions from one account do not represent twenty independent voices. Count unique authors beside total mentions and inspect whether one community, page or creator dominates the sample.

Engagement needs context

Likes, comments, shares, views and platform-native scores describe different behaviours. Do not combine them into a universal engagement rate without showing the inputs. Use raw totals for sorting and platform-specific comparisons for interpretation.

Freshness changes the question

A 90-day window reveals persistent themes; a 7-day window reveals movement. Compare both when possible. A topic can be important without being newly trending, and newly active without being durable.

Source links are non-negotiable

Links let a person read tone, replies and context that a keyword match can miss. They also let an agent cite its conclusion. What’s Trending keeps evidence URLs alongside rankings so users can verify an insight before turning it into content.