2. Foreword
Until very recently, polls felt like the law of the land in traditional
media and public opinion. The analysis of social networks now offers
new possibilities in terms of innovation and business intelligence. If
they implement a contextualization process, firms and political
organizations can gain significant competitive advantages: a better
understanding of the market, bigger cost savings, faster growth,
smarter use of resources and more efficient targeting of a favourable
clientele.
Techniques of social networks analysis are improving at an
exponential rate; so much so that they are now foreshadowing the
use of individuals’ comments and interaction as a strategic vector.
Today, best practices serve as an example to optimize business
processes but most of all, they help in capturing new markets by
reducing the risks in said markets. This case study describes Voxco’s
perspective on the revolution we are witnessing in the field of social
networks analysis.
We hope this study will be a source of inspiration for you with
regards to social network analysis within your company.
Raymond Cyr
Raymond Cyr
President
1 | Page
3. Establishing specific objectives
In July of 2012, Voxco was mandated by Bellwether Research &
Consulting to analyze the US elections specifically on the social
networks. Our analyses were to cover a few American States, but
mostly Indiana, where telephone and mobile surveys were also
carried out. The main challenge was to circumscribe Web content
(Web sites, RSS feeds, tweets) coming from the States under
scrutiny. It was an even bigger challenge since some topics of
national interest also included local issues.
Preliminary analyses allowed Voxco to identify and circumscribe the
main Web content from the examined States. With its strong
understanding of the regional market, Bellwether Research &
Consulting has added to the content sources by suggesting a list of
local sites. That collaboration has allowed for a maximum coverage,
composed of general interest sources and specialized ones at the
same time, thus guaranteeing more relevant results.
Using a sound methodology
A social networks analysis was undertaken over the course of
3 months: from the beginning of August to November 6th, or Election
Day. During that period, Voxco was in charge of following up on
Acuity4 Social’s emerging themes, week after week. Based on requests, essentially
contextualization composed of the names of Republican and Democratic candidates,
allowed for a follow- the Acuity4 Survey platform managed to identify the soundest
documents, articles and tweets. Furthermore, it was able to retrieve
up of the topics’
the context from these mentions of the candidates’ names.
evolution and made it
possible to compare Setting up the context was this case study’s most important
these evoked topics functionality. Many tools allow us to count the number of mentions
with the different without managing to extract the context, the related subjects or
candidates’ mentions. themes and the link between these concepts. Acuity4 Social’s
contextualization allowed for a follow-up of the topics’ evolution and
made it possible to compare these evoked topics with the different
candidates’ mentions.
2 | Page
4. The sentiment analysis functionality was most appreciated by our
client. With the support of excerpts, it introduces the public’s
opinions with regards to themes related to each candidate. Figure 1
eloquently illustrates the themes evoked for each candidate on the
week of October 1st. Each theme is identified by a grey, green or red
rectangle, representing a neutral, positive or negative opinion.
Getting concrete results
Democratic candidate Joe Donnelly’s results evoked:
• The promotion of a law favouring farm assistance
• A negatively-perceived association with President Obama
Republican candidate Richard Mourdock’s results evoked:
• A lack of will to collaborate with the other political party
• An affiliation with the Tea Party
• His opposition to the car industry bailout
• Mentions of national stakes such as
o Obamacare
o Indiana being a State where the Senate race
would be tight
3 | Page
5. st
Figure 1. Main themes evoked with the candidates’ name on week of October 1 , during Indiana’s Senate race.
Figure 2 introduces the themes evoked 3 weeks later, following a
televised debate during which Mourdock starts off a controversy
with regards to rape and abortion1. As you can see, the results of the
analysis “tell a story”. It is clear that online comments reflect
significant dismay and dissatisfaction regarding Mourdock’s remarks.
Incidentally, these themes dominated the analyses until the end of
the electoral campaign, which will result, much to the surprise of
everyone, in the election of a Democratic Senator in Indiana.
4 | Page
6. nd
Figure 2. Main themes evoked with the candidates’ name on week of October 22 ,
during Indiana’s Senate race.
The ability to follow up on topics or brands according to their
context makes the analyses much more reliable. In cases of crisis
management, for instance, the context is absolutely necessary to
precisely identify the source of the crisis, the scope and the
5 | Page
7. influencers. Gathering contextual data allows for the quick
understanding of the reason for an event or trend.
Interpreting the results
During that same campaign, Voxco also had to cover the race for
superintendent of public instruction. Since the victory of Republican
candidate Tony Bennett was practically assured, we limited the
range analysis to the last days of the campaign. Come election night,
surprise surprise: Bennett was defeated by Democratic candidate
Glenda Ritz, a teacher that won awards for her work in education
but an almost unknown politician. How was that possible? Figures 3
and 4 illustrate the reason.
Figure 3. Sudden rise in the mentions of the candidates’ names and related themes, just before the election.
Democrats took advantage of the fact that Tony Bennett had
mentioned on many occasions that government money would not
suffice to fund music and arts programs. Democrats started
bombarding social networks with messages about that topic, as well
as insisting on the privatization of the education system and the
emphasis, too important, placed on national tests.
6 | Page
8. Figure 4. Mentions of Tony Bennett evoke the cuts to music and arts programs,
the privatization of education and too great a dependence on standardized tests.
7 | Page
9. To conclude
In the next 12 to 18 months, firms must act to capitalize on the
opportunity offered by social network analysis. Some have already
adopted these tools, such as Acuity4 Social, to push the boundaries
of their competitive advantage. And as we have already
demonstrated in this document, the results are practically
instantaneous. The technology is there and the managers are ready
to innovate in order to obtain results.
It is time to take advantage of that and generate value added for
your business. Listen to your colleagues and employees; you’ll realize
they are probably already asking for such a tool.
Alkis Papadopoullos
Chief Technology Officer
Voxco
8 | Page
