Social Media Sentiment Analysis, and Soccer Meltwater

Before delving into the nitty gritty of exactly how sentiment analysis works, let's break the concept down into something a little more tangible, shall we. Have you ever wondered what the South African public thought about, let's say, Iceland's football team defeating England in the Euro 2016? Well, that right there my friends, is why sentiment analysis software exists – to make vast quantities of data easily understandable at a glance. Think of it like a snapshot of the emotional response to a given topic. You might be asking yourself, but what about online surveys and polls, isn't that their purpose?