NZ Herald
  • Home
  • Latest news
  • Herald NOW
  • Video
  • New Zealand
  • Sport
  • World
  • Business
  • Entertainment
  • Podcasts
  • Quizzes
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Travel
  • Viva
  • Weather

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • New Zealand
    • All New Zealand
    • Crime
    • Politics
    • Education
    • Open Justice
    • Scam Update
  • Herald NOW
  • On The Up
  • World
    • All World
    • Australia
    • Asia
    • UK
    • United States
    • Middle East
    • Europe
    • Pacific
  • Business
    • All Business
    • MarketsSharesCurrencyCommoditiesStock TakesCrypto
    • Markets with Madison
    • Media Insider
    • Business analysis
    • Personal financeKiwiSaverInterest ratesTaxInvestment
    • EconomyInflationGDPOfficial cash rateEmployment
    • Small business
    • Business reportsMood of the BoardroomProject AucklandSustainable business and financeCapital markets reportAgribusiness reportInfrastructure reportDynamic business
    • Deloitte Top 200 Awards
    • CompaniesAged CareAgribusinessAirlinesBanking and financeConstructionEnergyFreight and logisticsHealthcareManufacturingMedia and MarketingRetailTelecommunicationsTourism
  • Opinion
    • All Opinion
    • Analysis
    • Editorials
    • Business analysis
    • Premium opinion
    • Letters to the editor
  • Politics
  • Sport
    • All Sport
    • OlympicsParalympics
    • RugbySuper RugbyNPCAll BlacksBlack FernsRugby sevensSchool rugby
    • CricketBlack CapsWhite Ferns
    • Racing
    • NetballSilver Ferns
    • LeagueWarriorsNRL
    • FootballWellington PhoenixAuckland FCAll WhitesFootball FernsEnglish Premier League
    • GolfNZ Open
    • MotorsportFormula 1
    • Boxing
    • UFC
    • BasketballNBABreakersTall BlacksTall Ferns
    • Tennis
    • Cycling
    • Athletics
    • SailingAmerica's CupSailGP
    • Rowing
  • Lifestyle
    • All Lifestyle
    • Viva - Food, fashion & beauty
    • Society Insider
    • Royals
    • Sex & relationships
    • Food & drinkRecipesRecipe collectionsRestaurant reviewsRestaurant bookings
    • Health & wellbeing
    • Fashion & beauty
    • Pets & animals
    • The Selection - Shop the trendsShop fashionShop beautyShop entertainmentShop giftsShop home & living
    • Milford's Investing Place
  • Entertainment
    • All Entertainment
    • TV
    • MoviesMovie reviews
    • MusicMusic reviews
    • BooksBook reviews
    • Culture
    • ReviewsBook reviewsMovie reviewsMusic reviewsRestaurant reviews
  • Travel
    • All Travel
    • News
    • New ZealandNorthlandAucklandWellingtonCanterburyOtago / QueenstownNelson-TasmanBest NZ beaches
    • International travelAustraliaPacific IslandsEuropeUKUSAAfricaAsia
    • Rail holidays
    • Cruise holidays
    • Ski holidays
    • Luxury travel
    • Adventure travel
  • Kāhu Māori news
  • Environment
    • All Environment
    • Our Green Future
  • Talanoa Pacific news
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Property Insider
    • Interest rates tracker
    • Residential property listings
    • Commercial property listings
  • Health
  • Technology
    • All Technology
    • AI
    • Social media
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
    • Opinion
    • Audio & podcasts
  • Weather forecasts
    • All Weather forecasts
    • Kaitaia
    • Whangārei
    • Dargaville
    • Auckland
    • Thames
    • Tauranga
    • Hamilton
    • Whakatāne
    • Rotorua
    • Tokoroa
    • Te Kuiti
    • Taumaranui
    • Taupō
    • Gisborne
    • New Plymouth
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Dannevirke
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Levin
    • Paraparaumu
    • Masterton
    • Wellington
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Blenheim
    • Westport
    • Reefton
    • Kaikōura
    • Greymouth
    • Hokitika
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
    • Wānaka
    • Oamaru
    • Queenstown
    • Dunedin
    • Gore
    • Invercargill
  • Meet the journalists
  • Promotions & competitions
  • OneRoof property listings
  • Driven car news

Puzzles & Quizzes

  • Puzzles
    • All Puzzles
    • Sudoku
    • Code Cracker
    • Crosswords
    • Cryptic crossword
    • Wordsearch
  • Quizzes
    • All Quizzes
    • Morning quiz
    • Afternoon quiz
    • Sports quiz

Regions

  • Northland
    • All Northland
    • Far North
    • Kaitaia
    • Kerikeri
    • Kaikohe
    • Bay of Islands
    • Whangarei
    • Dargaville
    • Kaipara
    • Mangawhai
  • Auckland
  • Waikato
    • All Waikato
    • Hamilton
    • Coromandel & Hauraki
    • Matamata & Piako
    • Cambridge
    • Te Awamutu
    • Tokoroa & South Waikato
    • Taupō & Tūrangi
  • Bay of Plenty
    • All Bay of Plenty
    • Katikati
    • Tauranga
    • Mount Maunganui
    • Pāpāmoa
    • Te Puke
    • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua
  • Hawke's Bay
    • All Hawke's Bay
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Havelock North
    • Central Hawke's Bay
    • Wairoa
  • Taranaki
    • All Taranaki
    • Stratford
    • New Plymouth
    • Hāwera
  • Manawatū - Whanganui
    • All Manawatū - Whanganui
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Manawatū
    • Tararua
    • Horowhenua
  • Wellington
    • All Wellington
    • Kapiti
    • Wairarapa
    • Upper Hutt
    • Lower Hutt
  • Nelson & Tasman
    • All Nelson & Tasman
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Tasman
  • Marlborough
  • West Coast
  • Canterbury
    • All Canterbury
    • Kaikōura
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
  • Otago
    • All Otago
    • Oamaru
    • Dunedin
    • Balclutha
    • Alexandra
    • Queenstown
    • Wanaka
  • Southland
    • All Southland
    • Invercargill
    • Gore
    • Stewart Island
  • Gisborne

Media

  • Video
    • All Video
    • NZ news video
    • Herald NOW
    • Business news video
    • Politics news video
    • Sport video
    • World news video
    • Lifestyle video
    • Entertainment video
    • Travel video
    • Markets with Madison
    • Kea Kids news
  • Podcasts
    • All Podcasts
    • The Front Page
    • On the Tiles
    • Ask me Anything
    • The Little Things
  • Cartoons
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / New Zealand

Covid 19: Government releases social media 'listening reports'

By Katie Todd
RNZ·
30 Apr, 2022 07:50 PM4 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and director general of health Dr Ashley Bloomfield. Photo / File

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and director general of health Dr Ashley Bloomfield. Photo / File

By Katie Todd, RNZ

A company commissioned by the Government has been monitoring social media comments about the Covid-19 response for almost two years, reporting back every four days.

Documents released to RNZ show Annalect surveilled public comments on Facebook, Twitter, Reddit and other sites, about current topics like "Covid response", "virus", "vaccine rollout", "economy", "business and consumers", "contact tracing" and "team of five million", posted by New Zealanders.

The reports for just three months are more than 300 pages long.

In each of the "Social Listening Reports" Annalect identified a key theme, like: "The detection of the Omicron variant in MIQ is causing concern", "Some New Zealanders are frustrated and concerned about the long wait for Covid-19 test results" and "Discussion about New Zealand's borders and MIQ system has increased over the past three days due to several news articles about overseas Kiwis attempts to gain an MIQ space to return home".

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Those themes are then broken down further, with about 20 anonymised screenshots of people's comments used in every report to give specific examples.

Photo / OIA
Photo / OIA

Each report also includes graphs and graphics, looking at key trends including the number of mentions the topic had and the overall sentiment.

For almost every topic in every report, it found New Zealanders were making more negative social media comments than positive ones.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

The reports were provided to the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet (DPMC), and released to RNZ with a statement from Covid-19 Response deputy chief executive Cheryl Barnes.

It had helped the Covid-19 group to be "agile and adapt communications to address the questions and concerns of New Zealanders", she said.

"The analysis compiled by Annalect has also helped measure the success of the Unite Against Covid-19 communications and public information campaign."

Photo / OIA
Photo / OIA

University of Auckland researcher Dr Andrew Chen said the reports seemed like "essentially an extension of polling or focus groups".

Discover more

New Zealand|politics

Six dead, 5656 Covid cases today - new variant discovered in NZ

01 May 01:17 AM
New Zealand|politics

Reunited! Border reopens to international visitors from visa-waiver countries

01 May 05:00 PM

In essence, the Government was using publicly available data, to inform policy, he said.

"This is a market research exercise ... and not necessarily a bad thing for the Government to be finding out what people want," he said.

However, he said people might be surprised to learn how their comments were being used - and there was potentially an "issue of intent".

Photo / OIA
Photo / OIA

Chen said people might have written differently if they knew it was going directly to the Government.

"Generally when you're posting, you're subconsciously thinking somewhat about who your audience might be," he said.

"If people were more aware, and the Government was more open that 'we are analysing social media for trends', then people might be more okay with that, if they have that trust established," he said.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

He said it would also be important to know the reports were done in a safe way.

"These reports only present the results. We'd want to see that there's good governance how this research is conducted ... like a privacy impact assessment," he said.

Photo / OIA
Photo / OIA

Annalect advertises itself as a "global marketing solutions company".

It has its headquarters in New York, but the DPMC said data the Annalect analysts used for their reports were people in New Zealand.

They were commissioned because the department did not have the capacity itself, Barnes said, and "it wouldn't have been economic to build it in-house".

Chen said outsourcing the information was probably a "good thing" in terms of privacy, because it ensured the Government did not have access to the original comments and the identities of the people that posted them.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Barnes said the reports had provided "valuable insights" into the effect of pandemic restrictions and people's acceptance of them, and their willingness to carry out Covid-19 related health behaviours.

That has been important in ensuring the safety of communities and mentioning public trust, she said.

Barnes said the reports were first commissioned in April 2020, via OMD, the media buying agency for the Covid-19 Response.

It was unclear if it would continue.

"With it now approaching two years since DPMC originally commissioned the reports, we are reviewing the frequency and use of the reports and whether they're still fit-for-purpose for this phase of the pandemic response," Barnes said.

- RNZ

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Save

    Share this article

Latest from New Zealand

New Zealand

Campylobacter hospitalisations up 70% as contaminated chicken blamed

New Zealand

End to open-plan classrooms and bootcamp reoffending stats | NZ Herald News Update: July 17, 2025

Watch
New Zealand

Israel bombs Syrian army's headquarters in Damascus

Watch

Sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from New Zealand

Campylobacter hospitalisations up 70% as contaminated chicken blamed
New Zealand

Campylobacter hospitalisations up 70% as contaminated chicken blamed

Hospitalisation rates for the bacterial infection rose nearly 70% in 17 years.

16 Jul 08:13 PM
End to open-plan classrooms and bootcamp reoffending stats | NZ Herald News Update: July 17, 2025
New Zealand

End to open-plan classrooms and bootcamp reoffending stats | NZ Herald News Update: July 17, 2025

Watch
16 Jul 06:59 PM
Israel bombs Syrian army's headquarters in Damascus
New Zealand

Israel bombs Syrian army's headquarters in Damascus

Watch
16 Jul 06:21 PM


Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky
Sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

06 Jul 09:47 PM
NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • NZ Herald e-editions
  • Daily puzzles & quizzes
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Subscribe to the NZ Herald newspaper
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP