Social media monitoring - free report

Fresh networks recently released a free (requires filling in a simple form to download) report on 7 of the leading social media monitoring tools.  The report is unlikely to appeal to small companies as these tools typically cost hundred of dollars a month and sometimes more to use.  However, for the larger organisation that has brands they wish to monitor online then it is a good starting point.  The chances are this job would be outsourced anyway but the report would be useful as background reading prior to meeting with a digital media agency.  One of the key findings of the research is that automated sentiment analysis still has some way to go before it can be relied upon.

"Sentiment is more nuanced than a single number and using an automated tool to assess how people feel puts too much faith in the today‟s software. The diagram on the right shows a typical result – the average sentiment tends heavily towards a neutral classification. We don‟t believe that the tools on the market have nailed sentiment analysis yet. The tools can be extremely valuable, but it is important to understand their limitations as it is to understand their capabilities."