SDL to Provide Daily Social Media Tracking Score for Presidential Candidates

Oct. 10, 2012 - PRLog -- SDL (LSE: SDL) the leader in Global Information Management today announced it will provide a  daily online tracking report which will monitor social media postings and candidate sentiment in eight key states. The free report will cover both positive and negative comments of both candidates on online sites, including Facebook and Twitter, as well as reader comments on popular political blog sites. Net sentiment scores for eight battleground states will go live within twelve hours of the previous day, providing the quickest barometer for fast-breaking election news and events. The eight battleground states are New Hampshire, Virginia, North Carolina, Florida, Ohio, Wisconsin, Colorado and Nevada.

Warren Sukernek, Vice President of Social Intelligence at SDL said: “This is the most watched global event of the year and things happen fast and furiously.  The SDL Daily Election Tracking Report will provide a fast early warning system of voter’s reactions to events in each battleground state and offer a key data point for campaign analysis.”

In addition to the new daily tracking report, SDL will continue to publish weekly reports that break out share of online voice for seven key campaign issues. The issues include entitlements, abortion rights, foreign policy, Obamacare, jobs/the economy, protecting the middle class and the deficit. Together the two reports can help pinpoint in each state, the causes for a shift in sentiment for a given candidate.

Online tracking polls have gained credibility as almost four out of five Americans are now using the internet. According to recent data, 98 percent of the U.S. online population uses social media, including 95 percent of online users age 55 and older.

Sentiment score is attained by subtracting negative postings on a given candidate from positive postings, and dividing by 100. For instance if the President had 5100 positive postings last week in Virginia and 4000 negative postings he would have had a sentiment score of  +11 (5100 minus 4000 divided by 100). Both the SDL Daily Election Tracking Report and The SDL Weekly Social Media Issues Report can be found online at http://www.sdl.com/social-intelligence.

About SDL
SDL is a public company on the London stock exchange. SDL enables global businesses to engage with their customers in the language, the media and at the moment they choose. We help businesses manage their brands, drive global revenues, accelerate speed to market and enrich their customers’ experience. SDL’s enterprise-ready innovative technology and service solutions span the entire customer journey and include social listening and marketing analytics, campaign management, and web content management. SDL solutions drive global reach across multiple languages, cultures, channels and media. SDL has over 1,500 enterprise customers, 400 partners and a global infrastructure of 70 offices in 38 countries. For more information, visit www.sdl.com.