Wondering if the negative comments from those around us represented an overall downward sentiment for Apple's new iPad, we ran a sentiment query to find out how bloggers, commenters, forum posters and Tweeters (aka Twits) have responded. Using a tool we use for our clients, we ran a search that excludes traditional websites and monitors the social web for real comments. You can see the results below.

The graph breaks down various social posts according to positive (Green), negative (Red) and neutral (Grey) comments. The tools we use assign the sentiment value based on the words around our keyword, "iPad" in a way that is consistent with widely accepted research methodologies. For more on how Sentiment analysis works, go here. Sentiment analysis gives us enough usable data so that we can spot trends, if not generate perfect scientific results. So, let's look at how the iPad's reputation is trending. Here's a breakdown of the above graph. 

*1/29 results as of 12:00pm on Friday 1/19.

You can see the number of social mentions that our tools could clearly identify as negative are growing. We see a clear trend towards negativity as compared to positive or neutral mentions from 1/27 to 1/28. While this is by no means a decisive prediction of the iPad's overall success (and recognizing that trends can sway widely after the announcement of a new product that you can't yet touch), we think Apple is in a good place to start listening to the types of negative comments that might be negatively influencing the opinions of others who may share a neutral or positive opionion of the product. 

Here are a few actual quotes taken from the study:

www.cartoonbrew.com Like so many others, I was eagerly anticipating Apple’s iPad, but the device falls shorts in many areas, including in its usefulness to the animation community.

@Vonster: Does the vast spacing between the icons on the iPad bug anyone else? // yes! makes it seem even more like a bigger iPod touch.

Comment from blog featured on reddit.com – good point. steve jobs is the jesus of techies and the ipad is the nickelback of computing devices.

Perhaps there has been a problem in the marketing message, but more and more people seem to be struggling to find value with the iPad. If Apple is listening to what their audience has to say about it through the blogs, comments and tweets like the ones above, they have a real opportunity to speak to these challenges. However, if the product is a true turkey...as the old saying goes, "Nothing kills a bad product faster than good advertising.

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If you're interested in having Big Scary Cranium perform a social audit for your company, contact us here.