When the new Google privacy policy was announced last week, I knew there was no chance I’d have time to read through it and take in all of the changes. Luckily, this was the subject of January 28th’s installment of the Wall Street Journal Sentiment Tracker, so I got to see what people chatting on social media, the world’s largest focus group, had to say about Google’s privacy policy.  Powered by NetBase, the Sentiment Tracker showed that while 55% of [...]

January is the month of New Year’s resolutions – last year we looked at diets and gyms, and this year we’ve taken a look at health food crazes. In keeping with this theme, I decided to round out January with a second Brand Passion Index on the workout gear that is keeping social consumers honest. I’ve never been a big runner, but in the past my sneaker of choice was always Ryka; I have small ankles and a narrow foot [...]

Seeing pajamas through the eyes of my children reminds me how much I loved them way back when. All four of my little ones are diehard pajama enthusiasts – especially the footie ones, which are adorable.  In fact, they’ve begun a new tradition in our family called “PJ Day” where they stay in them all day, robes and all – sometimes our peace-sign Snuggie even gets some play. Recently, my 4-year-old was invited to a pajama-themed birthday party and was [...]

Siri had me hooked when I said “smiley face” in an email I dictated to her and she translated it as an emoticon.  :-) I had resisted smart phones for the longest time. Finally, when my daughter started to call my traditional phone an “old man phone,” I knew it was time to take the plunge. I’d never liked Apple products in the past … perhaps they were too “intuitive” for my brain. But when I was at the Verizon store (yes, [...]

After a week of looking at the social media response to health foods in honor of New Year’s resolutions, I found it very interesting (and timely) that the January 14th installment of the Wall Street Journal Sentiment Tracker focused on junk food giant Hostess filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. I must admit that I have NEVER eaten a Twinkie and do not consider them food. Ever the optimist, I thought that maybe America is turning a corner and we’re finally [...]

The positioning for Philz Coffee is all about hand-made, gourmet, and custom. The Philz site says, “If you are serious about coffee, we recommend you immediately fly down to Philz Coffee and try a cup of one of the 20 handmade coffees that 
are on the menu or get some Philz coffee shipped over to you. … Ask Phil how many times people have come directly from the airport just to taste his coffee.” OK, but there are only seven [...]

Welcome to the first Brand Passion Index of 2012.  I’m excited to kick off this year with a nod to one of the most common New Year’s resolution: getting healthy and getting fit. Last year, we looked at diets and gyms, so this year I decided to take a different approach and analyze the foods that people turn to when their waistbands are a little more tight following the holiday season. I eat fairly healthily, but still needed some inspiration so [...]

I’ve always been a snap-happy person. However, despite a serious dedication to capturing every moment and hoarding my pictures, I’m actually a late adopter of technology. I was the last of my friends to go from analog to digital, but now that I’ve made the switch, my Kodak camera tends to sit on the shelf in favor of my iPhone (note I was also one of the last people on earth to finally get a smart phone), which is now [...]

In the past, when you had an important purchase decision to make, you might have asked a friend or two for their opinion. Now, with the advent of social media, you can turn to a quarter million people and get their opinion in the blink of an eye—as long as you have sophisticated tools like NetBase’s to automatically analyze all that chatter so quickly. Here’s a personal example: When I bought my daughter a laptop a few months ago, I [...]

Do you use YouTube videos to promote your product? If so, how do you track what people are saying about them? You could search on the URL of a video, but typically the URL gets shortened when used in a tweet. And it might get shortened a different way for each tweet, so simply searching on the URL doesn’t work. But here’s what does work: Put a unique hashtag in the title of your video—like #BASSMOB in this example. Then, to see what [...]