Stock sentiment analysis and consumer sentiment analysis are relatively new fields, especially when viewed through the lens of social media data. Before reading you may want to familiarize yourself with how LikeFolio works, and what we mean by sentiment.

What is stock sentiment analysis?

Stock sentiment is a measure of how bullish or bearish (positive or negative) people are regarding the stock itself.  We measure this through analysis of tweets that contain "cashtags" -- which is how Twitter users identify stock ticker symbols in their tweets.

Through stock sentiment analysis of every tweet containing a specific cashtag, we can effectively measure how investors and traders are feeling about the outlook for the stock itself.

What is consumer sentiment analysis?

Consumer sentiment is a measure of how happy or unhappy people are regarding the products and services that the company makes.  This is measured through analysis of tweets that contain brand or product keywords from our proprietary brand to company database. 

Through our partnership with Twitter, we take in millions of tweets about brands and products, rate each one for consumer sentiment (if possible), and from there we are able to determine overall consumer sentiment for that brand/product... and therefore for the company as a whole.

Through consumer sentiment analysis of every tweet mentioning a brand or product owned by a public company, we measure how consumers are feeling about the goods and services a company sells.

Note -- consumer sentiment (happiness) is a different metric than purchase intent, which is our most valuable metric.  Both are important in analyzing consumer behavior and understanding how well a company is doing.

The differences are enormous

1. Stock sentiment analysis tells you what investors think about the stock itself.  That can be valuable information, as long as you know how to use it properly (hint: being a contrarian on that data is usually the best play)
2. Consumer sentiment analysis tells you what real people on main street think about the products the company makes.  This is incredibly valuable, because it gives us insight into how the company is doing on Main Street BEFORE they report their sales and earnings on Wall Street.   Snapchat's consumer revolt is a phenomenal example of this happening.
3. There are lots of companies working on stock sentiment analysis.  Because it's relatively easy to do.  You have one ticker symbol to search for and analyze, whereas consumer sentiment analysis like we do requires the creation of a brand to company map containing tens of millions of keywords and tags!

Consumer sentiment and insights on consumer behavior is difficult and infinitely more valuable to traders and investors.  That's why we are so proud of our data and our ability to offer it to our members.