Schonberger and Cuker talk about the huge volumes of data that is now being generated and give many examples of companies using big data for prediction.   Proper use of big data can greatly increase insight and eliminate false predictions.  According to one Amazon reviewer “We all seek smarter ways to find the most relevant information for our work and life so filtering messy amounts of big day will continue to be a popular kind of business service that will force sweeping changes in most all markets and professions.”

The book is not a how to book but rather a “what it is and the power of big data” book.  It is an excellent primer for anyone who wants to stay ahead of technology.

At General Sentiment, we believe the title it right – big data will transform our thinking.  General Sentiment is a Big Data company.  We scan the internet everyday for all news, blogs, websites and tweets.  The amount of data is huge.

General Sentiment is in the business of dealing with big data efficiently.  And not only processing it but interpreting it.  This is the sort of thing that only a computer can do.  We are open and tell people how they could do it themselves.  Simply read every mention about your company, products or topic and determine whether it is positive or negative.  And also determine how positive or negative.  Remove any results that appear to be “fake” so no one can “stuff the ballot box”.   And then weigh ones that are more important than others (EG NY Times is more worthy of weight than my blog).  Then compare these to competitors or compare them to 6 months or a year ago to see if sentiment is improving.   And compare different regions – is sentiment better in Chicago than Miami etc.

Big Data allows for the new market research.  It is instant.  The sample size is huge.   It is like having a focus group with 1,000,000+ people.

Imagine being able to predict what will happen. Imagine having psychic powers to know what will sell or what stock will go up or down. This ability is becoming closer to reality than you may think.

I read Eric Siegel’s book, Predictive Analytics – The Power to Predict Who Will Click, Buy, Lie or Die. (The last word certainly caught my eye.) General Sentiment is a social analytics company, so it is often used for predictions.

The power to predict the future is a powerful one. Imagine how well you could do financially if you knew which way the market would go and when. Prediction is the holy grail.

Part of what allows prediction to be more of a reality today than previously is the advent of big data method. Computers can deal with huge masses of data and sift and interpret it. Part of what makes prediction more of a reality is the ability to tap more sources of data from more people with more viewpoints. The old way of doing market research was to do a survey or a focus group. A survey might interview 200 people or get 15 people in a room and ask them questions. This was expensive and slow.

General Sentiment takes what is said on the Internet — news, blogs, Twitter, etc. — and interprets from that mass of millions of people.

All data has a problem of skewing, and good researchers work hard to eliminate that. E.g., in surveys or focus groups, the bias is only people willing to take the survey or be in the focus group. They also have the problem of filtering honesty. (E.g., more people will say they like to watch documentaries than sitcoms because they think it sounds better.) The small sample size also presents an extrapolation challenge. And, of course, they need to try to get a variety of backgrounds and geographic areas, but do companies really fly people in from Iowa to do a focus group in New York?

The data skewing that happens on the Internet is it “listens” to the people who are talking, and many people do not blog or tweet. It can also have an honesty or conflict of interest issue, so techniques need to be used to make sure someone is not “stuffing” the ballot box by setting up fake IDs and saying the same thing many times.

One quote from the book says, “Accurate prediction is not possible.” It also says “The Data Effect – Data is always predictive.” It then goes on to say that good prediction is simply an educated guess — balancing the odds. Predictive analytics simply replaces data with guess and tries to be more logical based on interpretation. Machines tend not to have the built in human problem of wanting something to happen. (E.g., in the case of the BB10 reports, I personally want BB10 to do well. I am long on the stock, and I sat on the board of BlackBerry for 13 years. So their success looks good on my resume.)

Prediction is much about the power of observation. Observe what happened and interpret why. Observe what is happening and predict. People tend to be emotional – machines are not. Machines can be all about the data. Machines can also sift much more data than a person. Of course, when the results the machines come up with are presented to people, they use emotion to make their decisions.

There is a good section in the book on NLP (natural language processing), which General Sentiment uses. It explains how a machine can understand if people are saying good or bad things about a subject.

Siegel’s book is a great read. It is quite an in-depth treatise on what predictive analytics are and how they can be used. I recommend it to anyone who wants to learn more about how to predict the future.

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This is a guest post by Jim Estill, one of the partners in one of our investors, Canrock Ventures.

It’s said that 50 percent of all advertising is wasted, but you never know what 50 percent to cut. So, brands just keep throwing money at it. Instead, focus your ad buy better. Here are 10 ways MediaMatch does that to help you save time, save money and increase revenue:

1) All rating points are no longer created equal. Shared affinities across brands and shows offer unique engagement insights and actionable information.
2) Agencies can provide a “brand rating point” for clients, leveraging MediaMatch to create engagement opportunities.
3) Break ratings ties by identifying larger populations amongst shared environments. In other words…

4) Provide essential information and insight for placing media, determining which shows are the best matches for your brand.
5) Enable real-time monitoring on shows you wish to track, and know up-to-the-minute social messages regarding those shows. And the same goes for your brand.
6) Delve deeper into the psychographics of your most engaged fans. Receive detailed information on your brand’s audience behavior. Measure your MOST engaged fans. Understand who they are in order to gain more fans like them.
7) Establish a more pinpoint focus on the best opportunities for your brand’s sponsorships, and track the impact in more detail than ever. Teams, leagues and event marketing staff now have a tool to capture more big sponsorships.
8) Reveal why your show is a good fit for advertisers’ brands with quantifiable evidence.
9) Define the audience you have, compare it to the market segment you want to target and make sure the content choices for your ad budget are targeting the market you want to go after.
10) If you have killer content (from a website, TV show or even a popular brand), General Sentiment defines your audience in a way that will attract the advertisers you are looking for.

General Sentiment’s MediaMatch is the game changing solution to optimize your advertising spend and return focus to your target market. General Sentiment’s patented technology to collect and match audiences and provide available demographic and psychographic detail is the killer app this industry has been waiting for.

Jamie Dimon, CEO of JPMorgan Chase, crowned “America’s Least-Hated Banker” by The New York Times Magazine less than two years ago, took a major Sentiment hit following Thursday’s announcement that JPMorgan lost $2B in just six weeks due to a “mistake.”

That figure is still growing. The New York Times is reporting losses reaching $3B already, and the Wall Street Journal predicts the total could reach $5B before the full impact is felt.

Dimon claims these losses are due to a failed hedging strategy — not risky trading with taxpayer-insured dollars. However, calls for regulation have surged in the past few days.

In particular, the Volcker Rule – the part of the Dodd-Frank Act that seeks to prohibit banks from gambling on their own accounts with money that taxpayers insure — experienced a 17-percent increase in Volume between May 9 and May 11 (the days before and after Dimon’s announcement of the losses).

Interestingly, however, despite increased buzz about the Volcker Rule (which may or may not have prevented the suspect trades in which JPM engaged), conversation surrounding Jamie Dimon himself far outweighed that of either JPMorgan as an institution and that of the Volcker rule.

And while the success of JPMorgan (JPM was one of the only banks to remain profitable during the financial crisis of 2008.) previously sustained Dimon’s outspoken criticism of “excessive” bank regulation, JPM’s recent losses are hardly an indication of the banks’ ability to self-regulate.

Dimon may need to change his tune.

As both CEO and chairman of the board at JPMorgan Chase, Dimon has taken the majority of the blame for his institution’s banking blunder. Dimon’s Perception Media Value plummeted following the announcement of the losses, generating a total of -$14,184,808 between May 10 and May 17. JPMorgan Chase as an institution did not even come close with a total of -$1,351,379. And we still don’t know whether JPMorgan’s suspect trades violated any existing laws (Dimon is scheduled to speak before the Senate Banking Committee as early as June of this year.), Dimon’s rhetoric post-crisis has already registered a different tone with respect to Wall Street regulation.

In commenting on the Volcker Rule, Dimon scaled back earlier complaints, stating Monday, “I do not disagree with the intent of the Volcker Rule.” Amidst calls for his resignation, however, Dimon reclaiming public approval will require more than a moderate shift in his Volcker stance. This leaves banking’s diamond in the rough, for now, simply in the rough.

Below is a graphic showing the level of discussion surrounding the Mega Millions lottery. The graph includes all mentions of Mega Millions on Twitter in the days leading up to the jackpot. Discussion reached a frenzied pitch yesterday at 146,300 mentions, and Volume will undoubtedly continue to increase today and over the next few days.

Discussion about the Mega Millions lottery has skyrocketed above 140,000 mentions as of yesterday.

“So you’re telling me there’s a chance?” Yes, there is always hope. On a related note, let’s all be thankful our current lottery isn’t structured like some others we have seen in popular culture. Among all the frenzy of the lottery hype — who wins and who doesn’t — remember what is important in life; remember who you are.

Think the lottery is all that great? If you haven’t read The Lottery by Shirley Jackson, give this haunting tale of a rural town wrapped up in a ritual lottery a read. The full text of this short story is floating around the Internet, and it’s not very long.

And if you have really been oblivious to pop culture fads lately, look into The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. You can read the book, or check out the movie in theaters now. The lottery in that series forces children to fight for their lives while the government rules the people from its oligarchical capitol.

I wish all of you out there luck if you play. There is no winning strategy and no best chance to win. There is just the hand of fate. If Lady Luck wills it, your life will be changed forever. Live with the hope that you might be a winner for a few days, but, more importantly, live with hope for every day — that every day you will wake up and make each day better than the last.

New Orleans Saints Head Coach Sean Payton is suspended for the entire 2012-13 season.

“Free Sean Payton.”

That is the rallying cry for fans in New Orleans after Roger Goodell’s shocking decision to suspend Saints Head Coach Sean Payton for the entire 2012-13 season for his involvement in ‘Bountygate.’ In addition, the NFL commissioner fined the Saints $500,000 and took away second round draft picks in 2012 and 2013.

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell

The ‘Bountygate’ controversy came at a bad time for the NFL; the league is trying to improve its image regarding player safety. While most observers expected punishments to be handed down as a result of the Saints’ bounty program, many were surprised at the severity of the repercussions. Jimmy Johnson, commentator and former NFL coach, took to Twitter to express his disgust about Goodell’s edict. Some think the NFL is getting soft. A writer from men’s lifestyle magazine Manolith expressed this sentiment:

The forefathers of the NFL are laughing about our pansy culture. The emasculation of the American male. It continues today.

Unfortunately for him, more people lauded Goodell’s decision than those who condemned it. We created two custom topics regarding fan’s feelings about the ‘Bountygate’ decision. One topic isolated mentions that expressed approval for Goodell, and the other included mentions that expressed disapproval.

March 21 – 22, 2012

An overwhelming majority of people believed that Goodell made the right call. Many were morally disgusted by the thought that the Saints put bounties on certain players, including Brett Favre, Kurt Warner, Aaron Rodgers and Cam Newton. But two Sentiment words explained why fans supported Goodell on the issue; ‘Protect’ and ‘Health’ were the positive terms used most often in reference to Roger Goodell. A Los Angeles Times headline about the suspensions cited the ‘need to protect the integrity of the game.’ Christine Brennan of USA Today praised Goodell as a strong leader:

Nearly three weeks ago, Goodell said this: “It is our responsibility to protect player safety and the integrity of our game, and this type of conduct will not be tolerated.” Then, like a leader from another time, Goodell did exactly what he said he was going to do. He actually put the Saints’ money where his mouth was. He threw the book at the bums.

Unfortunately for the Saints and its fans, many agree with Goodell’s hard-line stance on player safety, which came about as a result of previous criticism about the league’s perceived apathy towards safety.

Tim Tebow and Mark Sanchez are now Jets teammates.

On a lighter note, the Denver Broncos traded Tim Tebow to the Jets for a couple of mid-round draft picks, and what should have been the biggest story of the day was pushed to the backburner as a result of ‘Bountygate.’

We isolated mentions of Tim Tebow that also referenced the Jets and calculated the number of positive and negative references to that discussion.

March 21 – 22, 2012

Jets fans hope Tim Tebow can unify their team

According to the data, 59 percent of all references regarding Tebow and Jets expressed positive Sentiment, while 41 percent expressed negativity. Supporters of the move said it was ‘good’ and that Tebow would ‘help’ the team and make it ‘better.’ The most common negative Sentiment word among detractors was ‘crazy.’

Tebow beat the Jets last year and would be a good fit for Tony Sparano’s Wildcat offense. After all, Sparano introduced the Wildcat to the NFL in 2008 and achieved great success with the scheme. But the Jets did sign Mark Sanchez to a lucrative contract a few weeks ago. What happens if Sanchez struggles? As in Denver, there will be calls for Tebow.

The Jets hope that Tebow will bring a winning attitude, help diversify their offense and unify their fractured locker room. But if a quarterback controversy occurs, it could get ugly. Mark Sanchez is a lot more expensive and high-profile than Kyle Orton. There are definitely risks, but fans generally think of the move as a positive for the Jets.

If you’re craving more sports-related content, our 2012 March Madness: Mid-Majors and Brands report is available for download.  We analyzed which mid-majors benefited the most from March Madness exposure and identified the most popular brands among March Madness fans. Whether you’re an advertiser or an alumnus of a small school that participated in the NCAA Men’s Basketball tournament, you will not want to miss the report.

We looked at the topics that were referenced the most alongside mentions of the Oscars on Twitter and found Harry Potter, not The Artist, was associated most often with the ceremony. Fans of the fantasy franchise were extremely disappointed when Harry Potter was snubbed by The Academy once again. The film was nominated for Best Makeup, Best Visual Effects and Best Art Direction. These categories were mentioned the most among all of the categories. Many people were upset that Alan Rickman, who portrayed Professor Snape in the Harry Potter series, was not nominated for Best Supporting Actor. Rickman was the most referenced actor on Twitter in discussion about the Oscars. Harry Potter’s Oscar failure wasn’t just noticed on Twitter. Joal Ryan of E! Online mentioned that even the Shrek franchise won an Oscar.

The actor referenced the second most in connection with the Oscars was another loser: George Clooney. Clooney competed for the Best Actor Oscar, but he fell short to The Artist’s Jean Dujardin, whose film also beat Harry Potter for Art Direction. At least Eddie Murphy and Kermit the Frog didn’t beat Billy Crystal for most referenced Oscar host. Crystal was funny enough to win over the Social Media crowd. While I still would have preferred Eddie Murphy to host this year, Crystal had some great one-liners. My favorite was his dig at the Oscars itself as he recognized that “nothing takes the sting out of these tough economic times like watching a bunch of millionaires giving golden statues to each other.”

One of the most mentioned topics was the entertainment-focused social network GetGlue. GetGlue allows users to check in to the entertainment they absorb, rewarding them with points and stickers that can provide discounts online. The social network partnered with ABC to provide rewards to users who checked in before or during the Oscars. GetGlue claimed that they generated a record 170,000 check-ins during this year’s Oscars, which was up five times from last year. Web-based firms like GetGlue seem to be an important asset for the Oscars as it continues to transition from a telecast-only event to a more interactive spectacle.

Moonbot Studios’ William Joyce and Brandon Oldenburg celebrate the Oscar win

The last Association that caught my eye was Louisiana. I love the culture, the food and the music in the state, but it isn’t a place that I would associate with the movie industry. However, the state has been cooking up far more than its famous gumbo. Shreveport’s own Moonbot Studios triumphed with a Best Animated Short Film win for The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore. Folks with ties to Louisiana were overjoyed and took to Twitter to express their excitement. The town of Shreveport will hold a parade to celebrate the area’s first Academy Award.

It’s always heartwarming to see David beat Goliath.

Note: The topics mentioned were not necessarily the most mentioned during the Oscars — just the most referenced alongside mentions of the Oscars.

Bérénice Bejo in The Artist

The 84th Academy Awards will be held this Sunday, and like every year, people are scrambling to figure out which performers will be taking home the famed Oscar statuettes. This year, Hollywood experts are more befuddled than ever about who is going to win. To help them out, we’ve put out a betting guide that combines nominees’ odds of winning with General Sentiment’s Social Media and Twitter Sentiment data.

While most experts are scratching their heads about the biggest races, including Best Director, Best Actor and Best Actress, the winner has been all but announced in one category. In the Best Supporting Actress category, Octavia Spencer, who starred in The Help, has 1/25 odds of winning the Oscar after dominating the awards season so far. Spencer won the Screen Actors Guild and BAFTA awards for Best Supporting Actress.

But that success hasn’t translated into Social Media and Twitter buzz. Despite all the accolades, Sentiment for Spencer significantly trailed Bérénice Bejo and Melissa McCarthy, two other nominees for Best Supporting Actress.

Social Media and Twitter Sentiment for Best Supporting Actress Nominees from January 24 to February 21, 2012

Even long-shot nominee Janet McTeer of Albert Nobbs generated higher Sentiment than Spencer. But most surprisingly, Bridesmaids’ Melissa McCarthy, an 80/1 nominee, received the highest level of praise on Social Media and Twitter. McCarthy’s Sentiment was the most consistent of the Best Supporting Actress nominees, rarely dropping more than a couple points at a time.

Even the Associated Press stated that they wouldn’t mind seeing McCarthy win:

It would be a complete hoot to see Melissa McCarthy win. A longtime standup comic and former member of the Los Angeles improv theatre The Groundlings, she would give an acceptance speech we’d never forget. Plus it would be nice to see the Academy acknowledge the difficulty of doing this kind of comedy right; McCarthy is a complete scene-stealer as an inappropriate, brash bridesmaid, taking the role to dangerous and unexpected places.

But it is hard to see the Academy going in that direction; the members usually favor more artsy and melodramatic selections rather than light-hearted or comedic fare. However, upsets at the Oscars do happen quite often. In 1997, The Mirror Has Two Faces’ starlet Lauren Bacall had won the Golden Globe and SAG award for Best Supporting Actress. The experts were convinced that Bacall had the Oscar in the bag. In fact, Bacall’s win was so likely that Las Vegas refused to take any bets on the race that year.

But Oscar night came, and the unthinkable happened.

Juliette Binoche poses with her Best Supporting Actress Oscar

As everyone expected to hear Bacall’s name called, Juliette Binoche, who played a Canadian nurse in the war drama The English Patient, won the Oscar. Binoche’s surprise victory drew synchronized gasps in living rooms across the globe. Aside from Binoche’s performance, the momentum of her film was enough to put her over the top. The English Patient won an astonishing 9 Oscars at the 69th Academy Awards, including Best Picture. The film received 12 Oscar nominations that year.

Fifteen years later, another film is receiving very similar praise. The Artist, the favorite for Best Picture this year, has received an impressive 10 Oscar nominations this year. Best Supporting Actress nominee Bérénice Bejo stars in the film and is second favorite to win the Oscar.

Is it just me, or is this eerily familar to Binoche’s situation 15 years ago?

Bérénice Bejo’s Social Media and Twitter Sentiment is second highest among the Best Supporting Actress nominees, trailing only McCarthy. A relatively unknown commodity, Bejo has drawn rave reviews for her portrayal of a young dancer looking for a break in 1920s Hollywood. But, more importantly, The Artist looks like it will win multiple awards.

Social Media Sentiment for The Artist, The Descendants, The Help and Hugo from January 24 to February 21, 2012

Will the strong momentum behind The Artist be enough for the Academy to buck the trend and give the Oscar to Bejo? It wouldn’t be any more of a shock than Binoche’s triumph. After all, the Academy loves to reward ambitious and unique films, a category which The Artist, a silent film, definitely fits into. And many people have pointed out that The Artist couldn’t have been made without the talents of its leading man, Jean Dujardin, and Bejo.

Given Bejo’s strong Sentiment and reasonable odds, we pick her to win the Best Supporting Actress Oscar this Sunday. We know it’s a gutsy and possibly ill-advised pick in light of Octavia Spencer’s supposed invincibility, but the parallels between Binoche and Bejo are there. Both were underdogs. Both of their films were highly acclaimed and expected to do well at the Oscars. Both Binoche and Bejo are French. The stage is set for a Bejo upset.

But will the Academy take a chance on her?

Want to see who wins? Watch the 84th Academy Awards on ABC this Sunday at 7 p.m. EST.

To see our other predictions for the major Oscar races, download our 2012 Oscars Betting & Advertising Guide.

Considering that Tebow wasn’t even a backup quarterback at the start of the season, this is impressive. His appeal has grown steadily throughout the regular season like the development of a strong hurricane. The chart below clearly shows his progression. In September, nobody was really talking about him as Tebow found himself stuck behind Kyle Orton and Brady Quinn on the Broncos’ depth chart. Then, as the Broncos stumbled to a 1-4 start, coach John Fox rolled the dice and announced that Tebow would be the starting quarterback. The rest was history. Tebow went on to lead the Broncos to exhilarating comeback wins over the Dolphins, Jets, Chargers, Vikings and Bears, while winning his first NFL playoff game by sniping an 80-yard touchdown pass to knock out the Steelers. His knack for late-game heroics caused his legend to grow, accounting for his upward trend in Social Media and on Twitter.

For all his Social Media popularity, Tebow has become one of the most polarizing figures in sports. He is well-known for his fervent Christian beliefs, publicly expressing his faith and thanking God and Jesus after each win. For this, he has been accused of wearing his religion on his sleeve. People have also attacked him for his quarterbacking ability, arguing that his mediocre throwing mechanics limit his ceiling in the NFL. At one point in the season, the Denver Post called Tebow ‘the worst quarterback in the NFL.’ But, for the same reasons, people love him. Those in the religious community have expressed appreciation for Tebow’s strong faith, and his lack of natural ability has become a main reason for his appeal. Everyone always loves the underdog.

In a recent ESPN poll, Tebow was named America’s most popular athlete. That may be, but you have also have to account for negative perception, which the ESPN poll doesn’t include. In our metrics, Tebow ranked third among the quarterbacks remaining in the playoffs for Social Media and Twitter Sentiment.

The Share of Voice charts below illustrate how polarizing Tebow is. While he generated 65.6 percent of all positive Social Media and Twitter mentions among the remaining playoff quarterbacks, he accumulated a larger share of negative mentions.

Still, the data shows that Tebow is generally liked more than not, just not universally loved. The question is how long will America’s love affair with Tebow last? While many love him for his strong faith, the most significant reason for his popularity is because of his on-field success. As his Volume chart shows, nobody cared about him when he was stuck on the bench. He needed to win first, and then all the other aspects of his persona bumped him to the top. As long as Tebow does his part to help the Broncos keep winning, expect Tebowmania to stick around for a while.

Note: Twitter data is based on a 10-percent representative sample.

In our inaugural Global Mood Index Report, we found that News Media was much more negative this year than Social Media and Twitter. That is because people like to talk more about their personal lives and everyday things than global, national or sensationalist news events.

It is not a surprise that News Media has been very negative this year. Natural disasters, worldwide economic uncertainty and widespread violence have provided news organizations plenty of negative content to choose from. Although most people don’t choose to focus on these events in their Social Media lives, an analysis of Global Mood Sentiment in Social Media and Twitter reveals that people are feeling unhappier now than they were at the beginning of the year. It’s clear that these negative events made an impact on people’s moods this year.

Monthly Global Mood Sentiment in 2011 (December average includes data up to December 15)

Here is a quick monthly rundown explaining the changes in Global Twitter Sentiment.

January Twitter Sentiment | 43.87        

People were very excited to bring in the New Year. Maybe everybody felt a little optimism about 2011. A new year is always a good excuse to be happy.  (Second happiest month) 

February Twitter Sentiment | 44.54  (+0.67) 

Everybody needs a little loving whether they admit or not. That’s why it’s not a surprise that February (largely due to Valentine’s Day) was the happiest month in News Media, Social Media and Twitter. (Happiest month)

March Twitter Sentiment | 42.10  (-2.44)  

Twitter Sentiment dropped 18 points as the Japanese earthquake and tsunami stunned the world. It was a somber reminder of how much more powerful Mother Nature is than any of us. (Fourth happiest month)

April Twitter Sentiment | 43.73  (+1.63)  

People’s spirits picked up in April as a result of Easter and the Royal Wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton. More than 24M watched the wedding in the UK, and nearly 23M in the U.S did so. I was one of the few who were not willing to wake up at 6 a.m. (Third happiest month)

May Twitter Sentiment | 41.10  (-2.63)  

U.S. special forces took down Osama Bin Laden on May 2 as he was hiding in an ordinary Pakistani neighborhood. The killing brought out many negative emotions along with relief, which many people felt as a result of Bin Laden’s death.  (Sixth happiest month)

June Twitter Sentiment | 41.87  (+0.77)

Dads all across the globe brightened everyone’s day as we paid homage to them for Father’s Day. Sentiment remained consistent throughout the month with no significant negative drops. (Fifth happiest month)

July Twitter Sentiment | 40.23  (-1.64)  

July proved to be a month of tragedy as a result of the Norway terror attacks and singer Amy Winehouse’ death.  The world wondered why so many young Norwegians had to die in such senseless killings and how a talented singer could suddenly be silenced in her prime.  (Fifth unhappiest month) 

August Twitter Sentiment | 39.61  (-0.62)  

More violence followed as rioters held several towns in England under siege. Several people died in the riots, and massive looting and arson occurred. Also around this time, S&P downgraded the U.S. credit rating from AAA to AA+. August turned out to be a depressing month. (Second unhappiest month) 

September Twitter Sentiment | 39.57  (-0.04)  

The mood remained somber over worries about the European debt crisis and fears of a double-dip recession. World stocks fell to 13-month lows as poor economic data raised the possibility of a global recession. The tenth anniversary of the September 11 attacks invoked more sadness. (Unhappiest month)

October Twitter Sentiment | 40.00  (+0.43) 

The world economy remained fragile, and the Occupy Wall Street movement came into full swing. Meanwhile, rebels disposed of former Libyan dictator Muammar el-Qaddafi, marking a symbolic moment in the Libyan revolution. (Third unhappiest month)

November Twitter Sentiment | 40.07  (+.07) 

Thanksgiving helped cheer people up, but not by much. Worries over the European debt crisis worsened. European leaders scrambled to find a solution to save the euro and the European Union. Fears of the crisis grew to the point that the U.S. Federal Reserve intervened to liquidate the markets. (Fourth unhappiest month)

December Twitter Sentiment | 41.00  (+0.93)    

A spectacular lunar eclipse  - the last one of 2011 - helped take people’s minds off the economy during the first half of December. The Men in Black 3 trailer helped lift the mood, creating significant buzz on Twitter.  (Sixth unhappiest month) 

(December average includes data up to December 15.) 

Global Twitter Sentiment trended downward throughout the year, hitting lows in August and September. On a positive note, the mood on Twitter improved slightly in October, November and December. Although global economic fears, high unemployment and social strife remain, this improvement in Sentiment in the last three months of the year may indicate a more positive outlook going into 2012.

On a lighter note, researchers from Cornell analyzing Twitter data concluded that positive moods peaked on weekends. However, our Global Mood Index study reached a different conclusion. We found that people’s moods reached their peak on Friday. As you would expect, folks felt a little down on Monday and Tuesday. But moods improved throughout Wednesday and Thursday, culminating in significant increase on Friday. Sentiment fell on Saturday and Sunday.

Rebecca Black approves!

For more, download our 2011 Global Mood Index report. Happy New Year and see you in 2012!