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.

There’s no question that one of the most contested rivalries in sports worldwide is between the Boston Red Sox and the New York Yankees. So as we head in to the 2009 Major League Baseball postseason, we thought it’d be a good idea to let you preview a bit of the benefits review’d brings to the table through a real world example.

Now as you’ve probably read on the site, review’d is a Twitter sentiment analytics service. All that fancy speak basically means that we’re able to filter for and quantify when people express an opinion about something in 140 characters or less. To do so, we’ve developed a proprietary algorithm that scours Twitter and reports these data back to you in near real-time. Since we’re not “live” yet per se, I’ll give you a sense of some of the data we’ve been able to track on these two teams over the past couple of weeks.

Recognizing that the Sox and Yankees aren’t yet playing each other, it’s possible that’ll be a case soon. So why not keep an eye on how people feel about the teams over time? Chances are there are going to be plenty of die-hards..on both ends of the spectrum.

We started tracking these teams on Sept. 21, just before the season started winding down and we’ve been able to track more than 2,000 tweets that carry an opinion with them (and a keyword associated with the team). But taking a look closer is when it starts to get interesting.

For the Yankees during the period we tracked 1,086 positive tweets versus 196 negative. For the Sox, it was 710 positive versus 155 negative.

Here are a few examples of the tweets we tracked (on each side of the fence – no bias from us *wink* *cough* *#redsoxftw* *ahem*):

Red Sox (positive)

Red Sox (negative)

Yankees (positive)

Yankees (negative)

Just from that little bit a data you’re able to tell a lot already: how the teams are doing versus each other on a quantity (chattiness) and relative opinion basis. Yankees went about 85% positive and Red Sox at 82%. A tight race (no surprise given how close the games typically end). I think we have a new rivalry on our hands!

Imagine if you could analyze this after wins versus losses. Think about the value in following all the people who praise your team. What if you could trend these data over time and compare against Twitter campaign efforts? We could compare the four pairings of teams in the playoffs and see how they do as the series builds. There could be a growth (or shrinkage) of support as things progress – how so, and by whom? All of that – and more – will be possible with review’d!

Make sure you’ve signed-up for the Feedburner and are following @reviewd on Twitter to keep in touch with review’d. There’s plenty more to come…

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Image credit: team logos MLB, individual tweets copyright creators (linked to in image).