Twitter’s ‘Political Index’ tracker provides yet another dimension to the coming presidential election. The system monitors approval ratings for Mitt Romney and Barack Obama based on the sites 140-character long tweets. While some may take up issue with the lack of depth inherent in these short messages, Twitter has nonetheless maintained their relevancy to the coverage of the campaign trails.
The Political Index operates by way of an analytical system. Publicly broadcasted tweets that mention Romney and Obama are gauged based on their positive or negative slant, and are then compared against all other posts. The result is an informed percentage figure that gets a feel for the Twitter populations general political sentiment. Nightly measurements alter the numbers on daily basis, and will continue to do so until the November 2012 election.
Social Media Election Trackers
Twitter’s ‘Political Index’ Covers US Candidates
Trend Themes
1. Real-time Sentiment Analysis - Disruptive innovation opportunity: Develop advanced algorithms and machine learning models to analyze social media data in real-time and gauge public sentiment towards political candidates, not just in the US but globally.
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3. Data-driven Political Analysis - Disruptive innovation opportunity: Build data-driven analysis platforms that leverage social media data to provide deep insights into political campaigns, helping candidates understand their online image and make informed decisions.
Industry Implications
1. Social Media Analytics - Disruptive innovation opportunity: Develop advanced analytics solutions specifically tailored to track and analyze social media data for political and electoral purposes.
2. Political Consulting - Disruptive innovation opportunity: Integrate social media analytics and tracking tools into the field of political consulting to enhance campaign strategies and better understand voter sentiment.
3. Market Research - Disruptive innovation opportunity: Expand market research methodologies to include social media data analysis, providing real-time insights into public opinion on political and social issues.