As you can probably guess, the results from sentiment analysis tools vary widely, with many tweets ending up in the wrong category. Each tool is only as good as the list of keywords and the algorithms it uses, and they are easily confused by imperfect human beings who send mixed signals into their algorithms. For example, this tweet from @PDXrox was classified by one tool as positive and negative by another, based on confusion over using both “dang” and “:(” while also using the word “love:”

“Dang! Both @backfencepdx and @igniteportland have scheduled their events for the same night – Nov 19th. I love them both – wah! :-(“

You have a few options for sentiment analysis. If you are doing work for a company with budget for analysis tools, you should seriously think about purchasing a tool like Techrigy’s SM2, Scout Labs or other social media monitoring packages with sentiment analysis, since they have more robust features than some of the free tools. For those of us doing personal monitoring or working at small companies with limited budgets, there are some free tools that you can use to get at least a rough idea of how people feel about you or your products and services.

twendz

twendz is certainly the best free tool that I used, which isn’t really surprising since it was created by Waggener Edstrom, a large public relations firm with a vested interest in having accurate sentiment analysis for its clients. It handled my complex search query with ease when other tools did not, and it constantly updates in the browser window with new tweets. It also has some really nice features, including sentiment summary per tag and the ability to see exactly which tweets are positive or negative overall or for each tag.

twitrratr

I have some fundamental issues with twitrratr: It doesn’t handle complex searches; it doesn’t pick up new tweets very quickly and it doesn’t have additional analysis by tag or other parameters. However, I like how you can easily see at a glance the tweets that are positive, negative and neutral with words highlighted to show you why the tweet was put in the positive or negative category.

As I mentioned before, these tools aren’t perfect. Any time you are dealing with human beings and our imprecise languages, there will be plenty of opportunities for putting tweets into the wrong categories. However, sentiment analysis does provide a starting point and a rough idea for assessing how you people feel about you or your product.

What have you experienced when using sentiment analysis tools?

1. What are your business goals? What are you trying to achieve?
2. Who are you trying to reach? Where are they talking?
3. Where are the conversations happening around your company or brand? How can you appropriately join the conversation?

In a direct fight between Twitter and Facebook for business — which is challenging, because Facebook and Twitter are two distinctly different kinds of tools with different functionality — I can’t say that Facebook always wins. Let’s take a look.

Community/Size

Yes, Facebook is bigger, while Twitter is getting the media hype right now. But while it is tempting to go for sheer numbers in the hope of engaging consumers, you need to understand that people use each tool differently. The way you accumulate page fans on Facebook and followers on Twitter is different. So even though you might have a larger pool to dip into on Facebook, it doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll actually reach anyone you really want to reach. You might gain a fan on Facebook just because someone sees someone they know becoming your fan. You gain followers on Twitter — genuine and engaged followers — because they actually want to hear what you have to say.

Sure, Facebook has Facebook Social Ads (which I’d argue are far more effective than the traditional banner and skyscraper ads). However, there is no more direct method of reaching out to the people you want to connect with (potential customers, clients, etc.) as  following them on Twitter, responding to them with an @ message so they know you’re listening to them, or retweeting one of their messages.

Analytics

While I really like Facebook’s Insights statistics tools, I don’t think you can discount the number of third-party applications that are parsing Twitter data in meaningful ways. You can track clicked links from your Twitterstream using Cli.gs or Bit.ly. You can measure Twitter influence with a tool such as Twitter Analyzer, and your growth with Twitter Counter. You can get a sense of sentiment using Tweetfeel, Twendz or Twitrratr. Yes, you have to cobble together disparate tools to get the full picture, but Twitter usage is measurable.

Viral Promotion

Facebook’s news feed turns just about everything a member does into a potentially viral action; there is something so pervasive and easy about it that can make any marketer giddy. Still, Twitter has viral potential, too, and I would argue that it’s actually more powerful. When someone retweets you, they have to think about it and have to take an action to make it happen. They have to take a very deliberate step, unlike the automatic nature of Facebook’s news feed. They are conveying an implied and personal seal of approval of you to their followers. There is intent in Twitter, which is far more powerful than Facebook’s news feed.

Advertising Platform

There’s no question that Facebook wins here. But so what? Until more traditional marketers realize that social media isn’t about advertising, they aren’t going to use social media appropriately or effectively. Social media is not about placing an ad to capture eyeballs. Social media is about engaging in meaningful and appropriate conversations with consumers, because today’s savvy consumers are no longer passive couch potatoes watching a stream of advertisements. They are empowered with social media tools that provide them with the platforms to have their say about the products they love or the companies they hate.

Facebook Connect API

Hey, I won’t argue that Facebook Connect is cool. But not every brand or company needs that kind of Facebook integration to participate meaningfully in social media. That kind of integration isn’t as impressive — or as useful — as the functionality that is provided by a multitude of Twitter-specific third-party applications that can enhance your use of Twitter. From Twitterfeed to TweetLater to TwtPoll, there are tools that can help better manage your Twitter presence. These tools do not exist for Facebook, which can be more challenging to manage.

Final Thoughts

Facebook is more mature and has a much larger community of members than Twitter, but I’d argue that maturity and size don’t always matter. It’s what you are trying to achieve, who you are trying to reach and which tool or set of tools best serves your needs that really counts. For the record, while I love Twitter, I’m definitely not saying any single social media tool is the be-all and end-all for authentic and effective social media marketing.

Editor’s note: If you’d like to keep up-to-date with social media, the real-time web and how we all consume and create information on the Internet, check out the NewNet section on GigaOM Pro, our subscription research service.

What do you think about the Facebook vs. Twitter face-off?

Image by stock.xchng user andysteel.