Whether you are merely an individual wondering what your friends and colleagues are saying about you or a major retailer about to launch a new customer retention program, knowing what the word on the street is, and how to manipulate it, is very important.
We found this interesting topic on BeyeNetwork in their article, “Sentiment Analysis in Government.” But as we’ve learned (probably by a poorly written email), sometimes you can’t tell meaning just by text. How many times have you wondered if the writer was being sarcastic or if your boss was mad at you?
Sentiment analysis is an integration of classic text analytics and new techniques that attempt to track feelings and emotions. This new technology is being snatched up by firms striving to extract results from social media. The government is also showing some interest, and I doubt anyone would deny their need to listen to the public and learn what they want from their civil servants.
Melody K. Smith
Sponsored by Access Innovations, the world leader in thesaurus, ontology, and taxonomy creation and metadata application.
