With the above, you can see the swell of opinion and get a sense of the true state of mind at SXSW.

If you’re curious to learn more about Twitter sentiment and how it can be used for your brand, sign up for a free account for 30 days now.

We’ve been having a lot of conversations with people about review’d and a few themes are starting to emerge.

• They like it simple. And so do we.  review’d is built from a focused perspective of providing users with powerful Twitter sentiment data that doesn’t overwhelm users with too much data. Sentiment can be a complicated topic, but it doesn’t have to be.
• They like it inexpensive. We’re aware of other social media metrics and analysis services that are out there. They’re typically very expensive and are bogged down with features. You can start using review’d for free and give it a full test for 30 days with no strings attached.
• They like it on their phones. Handheld use is ubiquitous at SXSW and it’s expressive of the daily lives that attendees here live. We’re proud to say that review’d was designed to work well on devices like the iPhone from day 1. Give it a try.

We just went to a great core conversation on “how social media can destroy your business model.”  It was led by Kami Huyse and Anjuan Simmons, who did a nice job sharing some case studies and inciting dialogue about the topic.  Very quickly the talk turned to ROI and metrics with examples such as how Network Solutions’ @shashib was able to capitalize on discontent from GoDaddy customers by offering a coupon code during backlash from GoDaddy’s ad.  Twitter sentiment was a big part of their success in showing true results.

For additional coverage of the core conversation here in Austin, visit the hashtag #sxswdestroy before it fades away.

If you’re at SXSW and would like to meet up to talk more about Twitter sentiment analytics, we’d love to do so. DM us @reviewd or get in touch with @ericfleming or @docjohng.

Right around this time every year, a few thousand peoples’ salivatory glands uncontrollably start to get excited.  They know what’s about to happen.  It’s good old fashioned Texas BBQ time at SXSW in Austin.

We’re pleased to say that review’d co-founders John and Eric will be there in full force helping to get this awesome Twitter sentiment analytics up off the ground.  That’s right, at SXSW 2010 (the interactive part), we’ll be attending the usual conferences, strolling our share of 6th Street and handing out invites for a free Basic account for 30 days to fortunate trade show goers.

So yeah, I guess you could call that a launch.  We’re excited about it and can’t wait to share some of the latest enhancements to review’d with you.

It’s been a little while since we’ve been blogging.  So here’s a quick update to what’s been going on:

• review’d llc is official! That’s right, we’re registered up as a fancy pants limited liability corporation.
• Thank you pre-betas. A huge thanks to the handful of those who helped us out with a painful early pre-beta review of review’d – esp @benkunz and @stephfrancoeur. We have incorporated a significant amount of your feedback into the latest instance of the system.
• PayPal is on its way. We’re pretty close to PayPal integration, which will make signing up and using review’d easier than slatering BBQ sauce on your friend’s face at SXSW.

There’s a lot of other behind-the-scenes work too. Calculations, algoritms, etc.. we’ll keep it to the sexy stuff.

So with that, we hope to see you at SXSW.  DM us @reviewd or @ericfleming to meet up.  We have lots of free invites to give away!

Apple’s buzz machine has been working overtime for past few months to create awareness, intrigue, a bit of mystique, and ultimate anticipation-in-awe surrounding the inevitable announcement of its tablet computer at a Steve Job event in Silicon Valley.  If you’re just coming out from under a rock today, just type in “Apple tablet” in Google news to muse through a few thousand articles about the product that hasn’t even been confirmed yet. Sites like Mashable have gone so far as to dedicate sections to this holy day that’s now upon us.

So over at review’d we’re always interested in what people are really saying by trying to put some numbers to some of the feelings we’re sensing.  Is it good/bad, how much of it is going on, and how strongly do people feel?

Apple was one of the first companies we started to track during early development of review’d. Recognizing the potential for confusion with, say, your granny smiths or macouns, based on what we’ve observed, it’s pretty safe to assume most of tweets with “Apple” in it are related to the company in Cupertino.

So with that, here’s a sense of what people have been saying:

Twitter Sentiment analytics of Apple Computer on tablet launch day

One thing that Apple is notorious for is having a base of über enthusiasts and brand haters. The result is typically a constant stream of polarizing comments from both camps. Just think about how passionate some Windows people still are today and don’t hesitate getting into an argument with black-attire sporting creatives with funky shoes and square-framed glasses any day of the week. But we digress… A look at the above shows a significant quantity of tweets expressing opinions (remember, review’d only tracks tweets that hint at either a positive or negative opinion, not all). The swell is evident and hints at mainstream involvement are present.

Chattiness
Chattiness is a new feature we’ve added on the development site of review’d and we thought that with a rockin’ high rating of 100% today, there’d be no better time to introduce it.  Chattiness is based on the quantity of tweets being expressed in the last 24 hours versus the previous 30 day period. Anything to the right shows you things are heating up. To the left, they’re dying down.  The confirmation is here, yes, people are jazzed up (albeit in both directions) about today’s announcement.

Here are some examples of tweets tracked by review’d in the last 24 hours to give you a sense of the playing field.

Thanks to darcyhooper and i_Karu.

On the other side, DrewsDictionary and SusanVJ.

Whether you agree that this piece of hardware has the potential to save the publishing industry and will live up to its anointed ”Jesus tablet,” that’s for time to play out. For now, the buzz is there, people are talking, and there’s not much better than your brand than that. Now, to pop some popcorn and see what happens today.

Daily review'd score

So what’s this review’d score?  It’s one of the most important metrics that review’d makes available.  It’s consistent system-wide (in terms of how it’s calculated) and represents a sense of how opinions are faring for the entity you’re tracking.  It’s based on a 0-100 scale (0 = people are completely upset to 100 = ecstatically overjoyed).

We typically present it as two numbers on an org’s profile page.  One is your daily score, so that’s the relationship between positive and negative tweets tracked today.  The other is a reputation score, which fluctuates less and is based off of the previous seven days worth of data.  The tide can turn swiftly in Twitterverse and so we’ve chosen this period based on our experience of witnessing events unfold for orgs such as Whole Foods or people like Kanye West.

What’s interesting about the above comparison (showing just the daily score over time) is that Red Sox support actually rose as they lost.  Angels, on the other hand, declined by about 10 points.  You’ll also note that the Sox score dropped to 0 at one point.  This is because there were no positive tweets tracked that day – the day the Sox first faced-off against the Angels and lost.

You’ll be hearing us mention the review’d score often moving forward, but let us know if you have any questions.

Thanks to all of you who signed up for the Feedburner feed of this blog.  We appreciate it.  Also, welcome to all the new @reviewd followers on Twitter!

What’s review’d?
review’d is this a brand new sentiment analytics service that is in beta right now.  It scours Twitter based on keywords and returns only the most important tweets that also express either positive or negative opinions with the statement.  The tweets are scored and then a assigned a review’d Score that is tracked over time.  With it, you can see and understand what’s working and what isn’t.  Adjust your social media and online marketing efforts and observe and quantify your results.

When can I start using it?
Soon.  We’re tracking a number of companies already and will be sharing some of our findings with you right here.  So sign up for the Feedburner feed and keep check back with us so that you can be some of the first to sign up.

What’s unique about what you do?
review’d is one of the first sentiment analytic services out there for short online communications.  We’ve been testing and refining the algorithm for a couple of months now and we’re pleased with where it’s headed. With review’d, you’ll get quality custom reports and a baseline score to help you keep track of how you’re fairing on Twitter. 

Yes, we acknowledge that there are some others out there doing similar things. review’d was built by people who needed its offering and did so without any start-up funding. Call it “by the people for the people” if you must…at the end of the day, you’ll get a whole lot more value out of review’d.

We’ll be constantly improving
review’d needs to be just as much you as it is us. We need your feedback in order to improve. So please know that we’re not so proud to think that we can’t do better. We’ll be constantly making adjustments to the system to improve accuracy and usability while still maintaining a solid baseline for you to track your social media efforts over time.

How do we send in our feedback?
There are multiple ways to make yourself heard. Share your comments here, follow us on Twitter: @reviewd or contact either of us directly at @docjohng (john [at] reviewd [dot] com) or @ericfleming (eric[at] reviewd [dot] com).

Who are you guys again?
John and I have been around the Internet for quite some time.  In John’s case, he’s worked to build the Web’s largest and oldest mental health and psychology Web site over at www.PsychCentral.com.  It’s seriously helpful stuff and after 14 years of publishing more content that you click on, it was time to apply some of what he’s been up to (from a technical and biz dev perspective) to help get this up off the ground.

In my case, I’ve been living and breathing the Web for more than 10 years with a media, PR, and marketing eye.  Most of this time, it’s been marketing and online community development through my experiences at a high profile start-up company. There, myself and a great team have worked to create social media sites, tools, and content while also developing and deploying some pretty cool b2c and b2b lead gen systems. Tack on loads of sweet branding and creative asset development and that gets us to where we are today.

I’m sure we’ll have more to say about ourselves and why we’re on to sentiment analytics.  For now, we’re pleased to flip the proverbial lever and welcome you to review’d.

What’s coming next?
We want to show you our stuff. Here’s a preview of a couple of topics we’ll be taking a look at over the next couple of weeks:

• An overview from around the Web with titans in focus
• MLB heads into the postseason
• NFL in full swing

~Eric