Measuring online emotions of users to boost sales

Technology scientists claim they have created world-first software that can measure how people express a wide range of emotions online.

The Belfast-based experts say their internet gauge can detect 24 specific emotions, from trust and admiration to rage and terror, conveyed through 60,000 news and blog sources, including social media such as Twitter and Facebook.

It has been designed to allow companies assess exactly what the public think about their brands and, significantly, benchmark that against competitors.

The software has been developed by tech start-up Adoreboard with support from Belfast’s Queen’s University. Entering a specific brand name in to the online platform generates an ‘Adorescore’, which essentially quantifies its perception in the format of an index rating from minus 100 to 100.

Chris Johnston, founder of Adoreboard, said the innovation presented a major opportunity to revolutionise how businesses can understand and improve customer relationships.

“Brands currently spend billions of dollars every year trying to influence how people feel,” he said.

“Yet there is no single metric to understand the impact of this on consumers. Adoreboard aims to measure what really matters, the human factor of online emotions and in doing so aims to revolutionise how brands interact with customers.”