Listening in on Online Conversations: Measuring Consumer Sentiment with Social Media

• Activity Number: 145
• Type: Invited
• Date/Time: Monday, August 1, 2011 : 10:30 AM to 12:20 PM
• Sponsor: Section on Statistics and Marketing
• Author(s): David A. Schweidel*+ and Wendy Moe
• Companies: University of Wisconsin at Madison and University of Maryland
• Keywords: Social Media ; Online Opinion ; Marketing Research

Abstract

With the explosion of data available online, businesses are increasingly turning to social media as a listening tool. Some firms choose to engage with their customers directly using social media, while others leverage the insights they glean in other marketing activities. Recent research has examined movement in the volume of social media and the sentiment expressed. Much work, however, focuses on comments contributed to a single online venue. In this research, we probe the differences in sentiment that manifest across multiple types of venues, including blogs, forums and social networks. We also investigate differences in sentiment that may exist between contributors with and without direct experience. Our analysis reveals variation expressed sentiment across venues and based on contributors' experiences, important cautions for those gauging consumer sentiment from social media.