Author: Richard Sunley

Customers post good and bad opinions of products and services – and they also share witty and sarcastic opinions. All of which have been notoriously difficult for brands to measure. Sentiment​ ​analysis​ ​in​ ​the​ ​social​ ​listening​ ​world​ ​has​ ​not​ ​enjoyed​ ​the​ ​best​ ​of​ ​reputations as a ​lack​ ​of​ ​any​ ​advanced​ ​technology​ ​has​ ​meant​ ​that​ ​accurate​ ​results​ have​ ​depended​ ​on a​ ​process​ ​of​ ​repetitive,​ ​tedious​ ​and​ ​time​-consuming​ ​manual​ ​tagging​ ​of​ ​documents.​ ​As​ ​a result,​ ​many​ ​brands​ ​tend​ ​to​ ​sideline​ ​sentiment​ ​indicators​ ​in​ ​their​ ​reporting.​ ​Now​ ​all​ ​that is​ ​set​ ​to​ ​change, says Richard Sunley. Machines have been learning how to fathom irony . . .