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I think its very interesting where this is going for marketing, strategy, and product development....
That being said I am concerned about how relevant the vocal community is to the majority of users. Is it the best thing to listen to the brand cheerleaders or haters at the expense of the majority? I assume (possibly wrongly) that there usually is a normal distribution of customer satisfaction and its those outlying few percent on both sides of the curve that are the most vocal on social media. What about the silent majority within about 1 standard deviation? If we listen to the vocal will we actually make a better product/service that the majority actually want?
Just curious

I enjoyed this article.

Interesting point, Daniel. It's alluring to see social media praises, or complaints, as a microcosm summarizing the "experience and emotion of an entire customer base" - and form assumptions based on that data. It's also fun to disappear down the rabbit hole of analytical thought - and try to factor in the motivating demographic factors spurring consumers to mention (or reach out to) a brand via social media channels - age, personality types, socio-economic factors and etc.

Are there two camps (the vocal/silent - or the digital/analog) who act in different ways for different reasons? Or do the silent/analog just mirror (or follow the lead of) the vocal/digital?

For now, at least, I'm guessing all of this data will lead us right back to where we started. The vocal community getting access to the ears - and strategic decisions being made based on what is heard. It's always a vocal minority responsible for change. The only difference now -- there are new ways to be vocal.

Either way, it's an exciting time to be alive and learn the lessons that access to this new stream of data has made available.

Great points, I think with advancements in computational linguistics and natural language processing in just a few years, social media will open the possibility for better market research than any of us can currently imagine.

While I am made a little uneasy by visions of personalized ads bombarding me on the streets, I am happy to know that at least the ads I do see are some step closer to being helpful information.