1. Preface
1.1. Present Scenario:
Digital World has Social Media Pages/Profiles/Channels representing your business where
people engage with you in different ways. It is very important to measure the performance
(engagement) of your business in order to:
● compare it with your past performance.
● compare the performance of your different Social Media Pages.
● compare it with the performances of your competitors.
Based on this measurement, you plan your further movement. But it is not as easy as it seems to
be to have this measurement.
What we face in Digital World are a number of problems of which few are:
● Plenty of Basic Parameters that Social Media Platforms offer e.g. Views, Likes, Shares,
Comments, Followers, etc. Which one is to consider?
● Plenty of Composite Parameters that Social Media Experts have made out of Basic ones
e.g. Engagement Rate, Audience Growth Rate, Applause rate, etc. Which one is to
consider?
● Existing Parameters are scalar in nature which means they represent the magnitude
(Quantity) only and not the direction (Quality).
○ e.g. Engagement Rate is composed of Total Engagement (not Net Engagement)
which doesn’t show the sentiment or direction of engagement i.e. whether the
Engagement is Positive or Negative (shows Only Quantity not Quality). What if
the engagement is high but is negative?
● In order to check the sentiment or direction of engagement, you again need to go for
another parameter like Net Engagement, Sentiment Analysis, etc.
● Unavailability of a Universal parameter which is capable of representing the
performance of your Social Media Pages/Channels (your Digital Health) across all the
Platforms.
1.2. Our Mission:
a) Develop One parameter for all platforms: A Universal parameter which is independent of
Platforms. Whether you have one platform or multiple platforms, there must be only one
Universal parameter to represent the performances of all your platforms taken together i.e.
your Digital Health.
b) Develop a Vector parameter: This Universal parameter must indicate the direction of
engagement as well along with the magnitude. It must be smart enough to show both the
Quantity & Quality of engagement.
𝒆𝑬𝑺
𝟏 + 𝒆𝑬𝑺
With these missions in mind and to solve the current problems, we are introducing the DHS.
Let's take a tour.
2. What is DHS?- The Introduction
DHS is an abbreviation for Digital Health Score. It has been created to help Brands (Companies
or Individuals) measure the Overall Health of their Pages/Channels across all Social Media
Platforms taken together (i.e. your Digital Health).
It can be calculated/measured either for a single Social Media Platform (say Facebook etc.)
individually or for multiple Social Media Platforms (say Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Youtube,
etc.) combined together.
It gives a score from 0 to 100 to your Social Media Page(s)/Channel(s) which indicates its Overall
Health i.e. how healthy (well) the performance of your page(s)/channel(s) in the Digital World is.
With the slabs defined for DHS, you can:
● Check which slab your DHS falls in and the corresponding Health status of your
Page(s)/Channel(s).
● Look for the area of improvement based on the Health status.
2.1. Formula:
Although there are numerous parameters spread in Digital World, we are considering the very
Basic parameters, which further contribute to make Composite (bigger) parameters, to design
our DHS formula.
Note: is a Sigmoid Function
Where,
ES = Engagement Score
Views + Positive Comments + Neutral Comments − Negative Comments + Likes (Post) −
Unlikes (Dislikes)∗ + Shares + Page Likes 1
𝐄𝐒 = Impression (Reach)∗∗ + Page Followers∗∗∗ × Posts
* Some platforms have ‘Unlikes’ whereas some have ‘Dislikes’.
** For the Platforms having both Impression & Reach, we are taking into account only the maximum of two.
𝑫𝑯𝑺 =
𝒆𝑬𝑺
× 𝟏𝟎𝟎
*** For some Platforms (like YouTube), there are ‘Subscribers’ instead of ‘Page Followers’.
2.2. Formula Breakup:
𝐍𝐞𝐭 𝐄𝐧𝐠𝐚𝐠𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝟏
Simply put, 𝐄𝐒 =
𝐓𝐨𝐭𝐚𝐥 𝐀𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬 × 𝐏𝐨𝐬𝐭𝐬
This formula is composed of 11 Basic & 4 Composite Parameters:
Basic: Views, Positive Comments, Neutral Comments, Negative comments, Likes (Post), Unlikes
(or Dislikes), Shares, Page Likes, Impression (Reach), Page Followers, Posts (Count of Posts)
Composite: Net Engagement, Total Awareness, Engagement Awareness Ratio (EAR),
Engagement Score (ES)
1) Net Engagement = Positive Parameters - Negative Parameters
= Views + Positive Comments + Neutral Comments - Negative comments + Likes (Post) -
Unlikes + Shares + Page Likes
NOTE: Net Engagement is the parameter that is going to make the DHS a vector parameter.
2) EAR: Engagement Awareness Ratio
● Net Engagement divided by Total Awareness gives the idea about how much
engagement (not same as the number of people*) is received with respect to how many
people are aware of your brand on Social Media Platform(s).
● Total Awareness = Impression (Reach) + Page Followers
● 𝐄𝐀𝐑 = 𝐍𝐞𝐭 𝐄𝐧𝐠𝐚𝐠𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭
𝐓𝐨𝐭𝐚𝐥 𝐀𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬
EAR =
Views + Positive Comments + Neutral Comments − Negative Comments + Likes (Post) −
Unlikes + Shares + Page Likes
Impression (Reach) + Page Followers
* One user may bring multiple engagements e.g. one user may bring one or more comments along with Post Like &
Page Like resulting in multiple engagements from a single user.
3) ES: Engagement Score
● It represents EAR per Post. EAR divided by number of Posts averages the Net
Engagement to Total Awareness and gives an idea of ‘EAR w.r.t. individual post’.
𝐄𝐀𝐑
● 𝐄𝐒 =
𝐏𝐨𝐬𝐭𝐬
𝐍𝐞𝐭 𝐄𝐧𝐠𝐚𝐠𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭
= 𝐓𝐨𝐭𝐚𝐥 𝐀𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬
𝟏
× 𝐏𝐨𝐬𝐭𝐬
Views + Positive Comments + Neutral Comments − Negative Comments + Likes (Post) −
Unlikes + Shares + Page Likes 1
= Impression (Reach) + Page Followers × Posts
NOTE: You can directly calculate the ES (Engagement Score) with the help of all Basic Parameters and then calculate
the DHS with this ES. As illustrated in section 2.5 ‘Example Calculation of DHS’.
2.3. Parameters used in the Formula:
2.3.1. Numerator:
● Consists of Engagement parameters Under Observation*.
● Parameters showing the various ways through which users interact with a Social Media
Page/Channel.
● An indicator of Net Engagement.
a. Net Engagement = Positive Engagement - Negative Engagement
b. It is the sentiment or direction or quality of engagement and is the indicator
of Overall Health of Engagement i.e. whether the sentiment of the overall
Engagement of a brand is Positive or Negative (or may be Zero).
Table 2.1
Net Engagement
Inference
Positive
Positive Engagement > Negative
Engagement
Negative
Positive Engagement < Negative
Engagement
Zero
Positive Engagement = Negative
Engagement
● Positive parameters: Views, Positive Comments, Neutral Comments, Likes (Post),
Shares, Page Likes
a. Views:
▪ Sum of total number of views on all the videos Under Observation*.
▪ Please note that this includes the number of Views on video posts
only and not the Views on photos (Platforms like Facebook show
Photo Views as well).
b. Positive Comments:
▪ Sum of total number of Comments with Positive Sentiments on all
the posts Under Observation*.
▪ e.g. Appreciation, Wishes, etc.
c. Neutral Comments:
▪ Sum of total number of Comments with Neutral Sentiments on all
the posts Under Observation*.
▪ e.g. Enquiry, Feedback, Suggestion, etc.
▪ Despite having no sign (Positive or Negative) we are adding them
while calculating ES because they do not deteriorate the brand’s
health rather they indicate how interested the customers are in
your products/services.
d. Likes (Post Likes):
▪ Sum of total number of Likes on all the posts Under Observation*.
e. Shares:
▪ Sum of total number of Shares on all the posts Under Observation*.
f. Page Likes:
▪ Count of total number of Likes on the Social Media Page of your
brand.
▪ This parameter may be available for some platforms like Facebook
and may not be available for other platforms like YouTube.
▪ You can simply put Zero for the platforms where this parameter is
unavailable.
▪ example:
Table 2.2
Platform
Page Likes
Facebook
4500
YouTube
N.A.
Twitter
N.A.
Page Likes = 4500 + 0 + 0 = 4500
● Negative parameters: Negative comments, Unlikes (or Dislikes).
a. Negative Comments:
▪ Sum of total number of Comments with Negative Sentiments on all
the posts Under Observation*.
▪ e.g. Complaint.
b. Unlikes (or Dislikes):
▪ Sum of total number of Unlikes (or Dislikes) on all the posts Under
Observation*.
2.3.2. Denominator:
● Consists of Parameters that regulates/controls the Engagement OR the Deciding Factor
of Engagements for the posts Under Observation*.
● Larger these parameters are, larger will be the Engagement parameters.
● It has two parts:
a. Total Awareness:
▪ Parameters showing the magnitude of Awareness of your Social
Media Page(s)/Channel(s).
▪ An indicator of Total Awareness i.e. how many people are aware of
your products/services.
▪ Impression (Reach), Followers (or Subscribers for some Platforms
like YouTube).
▪ Although Impression & Reach are separate entities, to avoid
confusion and complication, we are considering only one at a time
because some platforms (like Facebook, etc) have both of these
parameters while others are having either of them.
▪ So, if both Impression and Reach are available: we are considering
the parameter with greater (maximum of two) value.
b. Posts:
▪ Count of total number of Posts Under Observation*.
2.4. Under Observation*:
● You can choose the Platform(s) & The Post(s) that you want to calculate the DHS for.
● And this very collection, the basket of Platform(s) & The Post(s) is what we are referring
to as Under Observation.
● Example:
○ Independent of Platforms:
You can put all Posts from a single Platform (e.g. Facebook) Under
Observation.
Or, You can put all Posts from multiple Platforms (e.g. Facebook,
Twitter, Instagram, Youtube, etc.) Under Observation.
○ Independent of Posts:
You can select specific Posts that you want to Observe from a single
Platform or multiple Platforms.
e.g. You may want to calculate the DHS only for the Posts (for one or
multiple Platforms) that you have posted in January month.
Or, you may want to calculate the DHS only for the Posts (for one or
multiple Platforms) that you have posted on Mother's Day for the last 5
(or any other number of) years in order to compare it with the DHS of
your Posts on Christmas for the same duration.
● So, it's solely up to you to make the selection, the basket, of Platform(s) and Post(s) that
you want to Observe.
● You get (DHS) what you feed (Combination of Platforms & Posts).
2.5. Example Calculation of DHS:
We are considering all the Posts (from First to Last) on all the Platforms Under Observation.
Table 2.3
Facebook
Instagram
YouTube
Total
399
1498
3464
5361
58
49
59
166
7
1
19
27
4
1
20
25
246
1144
568
1958
0
0
43
43
0
0
7
7
8561
N.A.
N.A.
8561
Reach = 8226
(Impression = 8787)
Reach = 7457
(Impression =
8809)
Impression =
9753
8787 + 8809 +
9753 = 27349
8757
3229
Subscribers =
243
12229
21
11
10
42
0.02593814813881
821
0.02032201060
278814
0.0405562224
889956
0.0096325760583
68165
50.6484173499525
45
50.5080327810
6768
51.013766611
816905
50.240812539448
93
1) Overall DHS:
Positive Parameters = Views + Positive Comments + Neutral Comments + Likes (Post) +
Shares + Page Likes = 5361 + 166 + 27 + 1958 + 7 + 8561 = 16080
Negative Parameters = Negative comments + Unlikes = 25 + 43 = 68
Net Engagement = Positive Parameters - Negative Parameters
= Views + Positive Comments + Neutral Comments - Negative comments + Likes (Post) -
Unlikes + Shares + Page Likes = 16080 - 68 = 16012
EAR = Net Engagement / Total Awareness = 16012 / (27349+12229) =
0.4045681944514629
Engagement Score = EAR/Posts = 0.4045681944514629 / 42 = 0.009632576058368165
𝐃𝐇𝐒 = 𝐞𝐄𝐒
𝟏 + 𝐞𝐄𝐒 × 𝟏𝟎𝟎 = 𝟓𝟎. 𝟐𝟒𝟎𝟖𝟏𝟐𝟓𝟑𝟗𝟒𝟒𝟖𝟗𝟑
2) Facebook DHS:
𝐄𝐒 = 399 + 58 + 7 − 4 + 246 − 0 + 0 + 8561
8787 + 8226
1
× = 0.02593814813881821
21
𝐃𝐇𝐒 = 𝐞𝐄𝐒
𝟏 + 𝐞𝐄𝐒 × 𝟏𝟎𝟎 = 𝟓𝟎. 𝟔𝟒𝟖𝟒𝟏𝟕𝟑𝟒𝟗𝟗𝟓𝟐𝟓𝟒𝟓
3) DHS comparison as per Table 1.3:
DHS (Overall) < DHS (Instagram) < DHS (Facebook) < DHS (Youtube)
You can calculate the DHS for specific posts in the same manner.
2.6. Summary of DHS:
We are calculating the Net Engagement w.r.t. Total Awareness per Post which simply represents
the ratio of how much engagement is actually received to how much engagement could have
been received.
Then, we are converting this resulting figure (Engagement Score) to a number in the restricted
range of 0 to 100 to make it more readable and comparable.
NOTE: Net Engagement is not the number of people who are engaging. One user may bring multiple engagements e.g.
one user may bring one or more comments along with Post Like & Page Like resulting in multiple engagements from a
single user.
NOTE: We are using Sigmoid Function to convert the number from a range of -infinity to +infinity to a range of 0 to 1.
3. Why DHS?- Importance
When it comes to comparing the performance of your Social Media Page with your competitors’
pages or the performance of your own pages on different Social Media Platforms or the
performance of your specific posts on same Platform, what we face is a bunch of parameters
(Basic & Composite) which brings confusion, chaos and complication.
3.1. Existing Problem:
● We have a number of Basic Parameters: View, Comment, Post Like, Unlike/Dislike, Page
Like, Share, Follower, Reach, Impression.
● Problem with Basic Parameters:
○ It’s cumbersome to compare the performance of your Social Media Page w.r.t.
individual parameters.
○ Different Platforms have different Basic Parameters e.g. Facebook has both
Reach and Impression while Twitter has only Impression.
● So, experts have made several Composite Parameters: Engagement Ratio, Applause
Rate, etc.
○ Problem with Composite Parameters: At present, there is no hard & fast rule to
make such parameters and so there is no uniformity with these parameters i.e.
with varying Experts (companies or agencies designing the Composite
Parameters), same Composite Parameters may vary in terms of their Basic
Parameters which they are composed of.
○ Also, there is a large number of such parameters (which is even increasing with
days passing by) spread up in the Digital World which brings forth a lot of
confusion and complication e.g. which Composite Parameter is more important
than the other, which one is best suited to represent the performance of your
Page, etc.
○ Existing parameters like Engagement Rate doesn’t show whether the
Engagement is Positive or Negative (shows Only Quantity not Quality). This is
because it is composed of Total Engagement which is the sum of total
comments, likes and shares ignoring the sentiment of comments (whether they
are Positive, Negative or Neutral) and Unlikes. e.g. Suppose Brand A has an
Engagement Ratio of 2.4% and Brand B has 3.8%. As per existing structure, one
can simply conclude that Brand B is performing better than Brand A based on
Quantity of Engagement but we are completely ignoring the Quality of
Engagement (if it is Positive or Negative) which is a misinterpreted analysis.
● Absence of a Universal Parameter which is equally fit for all the platforms.
3.2. Solution we offer:
We have picked all (11 in total) the Basic Parameters that a Social Media Page can have
irregardless of the Platform.
You can put Zero for the parameter which a Platform doesn’t have. Already, described in section
2.5 (Example Calculation of DHS) Table 2.3.
We have also made a few (4 in total) Composite Parameters Net Engagement, Total Awareness,
EAR (Engagement Awareness Ratio), ES (Engagement Score) out of the 11 Basic Parameters.
However, it is not mandatory to consider (or calculate) all these Composite Parameters
individually.
You can directly calculate the ES (Engagement Score) with the help of all Basic Parameters and
then calculate the DHS with this ES. As illustrated in section 2.5 (Example Calculation of DHS).
Now, you have only one parameter, DHS, to check & compare the performance of your Page
with your competitors’ Pages. Also, it is a vector showing the direction of engagement as well
since it is composed of Net Engagement instead of Total Engagement.
We have solved the problem of chaos, confusion & complication created by multiple parameters
scattered the Digital World and have successfully come up with a single parameter, DHS, which
is Uniform, Universal and smart enough to represent your performance in the Digital World
(your Digital Health) i.e. performance of your Social Media Page in terms of both Quantity &
Quality.
Following table illustrates the Problems with Existing parameters and the Solution we offer with
the introduction of DHS:
Table 3.1
Feature
Existing Parameters
DHS
Number of parameters
Number of parameters is very large in the
existing Digital World.
Only One parameter.
Confusion
Lots of confusion, chaos & complication due
to so many parameters i.e which to consider,
which not to.
No confusion because of only one parameter.
Uniformity
No uniformity i.e. same parameter may have
different meaning as per different experts.
DHS is uniform, it can not vary.
Engagement Quality
Scalar: Parameters like Engagement Rate
express only the magnitude (Quantity) of
engagement and not the direction (Quality).
Because it considers total comments only
ignoring the Negative comments over
Positive & Neutral ones. Also, it considers
Likes only ignoring the Unlikes.
Vector: It has both magnitude & direction
which makes it both quantitative &
qualitative. Because it is composed of Net
Engagement which consists of Positive,
Negative & Neutral comments separately.
Also, it has both Likes & Unlikes.
To check the direction (Quality) of
engagement, we have to do the Sentiment
Analysis separately.
It gives an idea of direction of engagement.
DHS below 50 indicates Negative
engagement.
Universal nature
No universal parameter for all the platforms
i.e. you have to calculate the Engagement
Rate separately for different platforms.
It is universal. You can calculate the DHS for all
the platforms combined together or
separately.
Example
Engagement Rate of brand A is 2.4% & of
brand B is 3.8%. It shows B is doing better
than A irregardless of the direction (quality)
of engagement.
DHS of brand A is 50.98 & of brand B is 49.80.
It shows the Net Engagement for brand B is
negative since DHS is below 50.
4. Tables
4.1. DHS Table:
This is the main table that you can refer to check the Health Status of Your Social Media Page
w.r.t. the DHS that you’ve come up with and the corresponding Risk Level & Measure.
Table 4.1
Health Status
DHS
Risk Level & Measure
Dying
0.00 - 25.00
Unacceptable; There must be some strong reason (like Spam or Fraud)
bringing this much negative engagement. Immediately look for the
source, take the corrective measure and try not to repeat that in future.
It is highly likely that you may not recover from this condition.
Worst
25.00 - 37.75
Very Bad
37.75 - 47.50
Bad
47.50 - 49.75
Highly Risky;
You must work to make the Net Engagement Positive.
49.75 - 50.00
Unwell
50
Risky;
You must work to make the Net Engagement Positive.
Well
50.00 - 50.25
Tolerable;
It can fall to Negative side anytime, so, You should work to improve the
Net Engagement
Good
50.25 - 52.50
No Risk; You are doing good. Keep maintaining the status
Perfectly Fine
52.50 - 62.25
Super Fit
62.25 - 75.00
Immortal
75.00 - 100.00
4.2. There are other supporting Tables related to DHS too that can be referred to get more
information about the relationship of DHS, ES, EAR, Basic Parameters & Composite Parameters
with each other.
4.2.1. This table illustrates the relationship of DHS, Basic parameters & Composite Parameters.
It shows DHS, the corresponding magnitude & direction of ES & Net Engagement and the
corresponding variation of Basic Parameters.
Table 4.2
DHS
Basic Parameters
Composite Parameters:
Net Eng, EAR, ES
ES
Inference: Magnitude of Net Engagement
0.00 - 0.67
Sum of Negative
parameters is greater
than sum of Positive
parameters
Negative
Less than -5.00
Net Engagement is above 500% of Total
Awareness.
0.67 - 1.80
-5.00 to -4.00
Net Engagement is 400 to 500% of Total
Awareness.
1.80 - 12.00
-4.00 to -3.00
Net Engagement is 300 to 400% of Total
Awareness.
4.75 - 12.00
-3.00 to -2.00
Net Engagement is 200 to 300% of Total
Awareness.
12.00 - 25.00
-2.00 to -1.09
Net Engagement is 110 to 200% of Total
Awareness.
25.00 - 37.75
-1.09 to -0.50
Net Engagement is 50 to 110% of Total
Awareness.
37.75 - 47.50
-0.50 to -0.10
Net Engagement is 10 to 50% of Total
Awareness.
47.50 - 49.75
-0.10 to -0.01
Net Engagement is 1 to 10% of Total
Awareness.
49.75 - 50.00
-0.01 to 0.00
Net Engagement is 0 to 1% of Total
Awareness.
50
Sum of Negative
parameters is equal to
the Sum of Positive
parameters
0
0
Sum of Negative parameters is equal to
Sum of Positive parameters. Net Eng = EAR
= ES = 0
50.00 - 50.25
Sum of Positive
parameters is greater
than the sum of Negative
parameters
Positive
0.00 - 0.01
Net Engagement is 0 to 1% of Total
Awareness.
50.25 - 52.50
0.01 - 0.10
Net Engagement is 1 to 10% of Total
Awareness.
52.50 - 62.25
0.10 - 0.50
Net Engagement is 10 to 50% of Total
Awareness.
62.25 - 75.00
0.50 - 1.099
Net Engagement is 50 to 110% of Total
Awareness.
75.00 - 90.00
1.099 - 2.20
Net Engagement is 110 to 220% of Total
Awareness.
90.00 - 95.25
2.20 - 3.00
Net Engagement is 220 to 300% of Total
Awareness.
95.25 - 98.20
3.00 - 4.00
Net Engagement is 300 to 400% of Total
Awareness.
98.20 - 99.33
4.00 - 5.00
Net Engagement is 400 to 500% of Total
Awareness.
99.33 - 100.00
More than 5.00
Net Engagement is above 500% of Total
Awareness.
4.2.2. Important Nodes (Points) of DHS:
This table illustrates the relationship of DHS, ES & EAR. It shows important nodes (points) of ES
with the respective DHS & EAR.
Table 4.3
DHS
ES
EAR = Net Eng w.r.t. Awareness
0.6692850924
-5
Net Eng = -5 * Awareness
1.798620996
-4
Net Eng = -4 * Awareness
4.742587318
-3
Net Eng = -3 * Awareness
11.9202922
-2
Net Eng = -2 * Awareness
26.89414214
-1
Net Eng = -Awareness
37.75406688
-0.5
Net Eng = -50% of Awareness
47.50208125
-0.1
Net Eng = -10% of Awareness
48.75026035
-0.05
Net Eng = -5% of Awareness
49.75000208
-0.01
Net Eng = -1% of Awareness
50.00
0
Net Eng = 0
50.24999792
0.01
Net Eng = 1% of Awareness
0.5124973965
0.05
Net Eng = 5% of Awareness
52.497918747894
0.1
Net Eng = 10% of Awareness
62.24593312
0.5
Net Eng = 50% of Awareness
73.10585786
1
Net Eng = Awareness
88.0797078
2
Net Eng = 2 * Awareness
95.25741268
3
Net Eng = 3 * Awareness
98.201379
4
Net Eng = 4 * Awareness
99.33071491
5
Net Eng = 5 * Awareness
Future Scope of Improvement:
A Share may also be Positive or Negative which we have ignored as of now. What we mean is
the reason of Share i.e. a user may be sharing some post to highlight your negative aspect which
must go to Negative Parameter in Net Engagement as it is deteriorating your Digital Health (i.e.
Social Media Page’s health). We will look to include it as well in future.