IBM has launched predictive analytics software that mines data from social media sources such as Twitter, blogs and networking sites.
The data mining and text analytics software, called SPSS Modeler, allows users to monitor changes in consumer attitudes and then use the information, merged with its internal data, to shape acquisition and retention campaigns.
The software includes new semantic networks with 180 vertical taxonomies - including banking and insurance - and more than 400,000 terms, including 100,000 synonyms and thousands of brands.
IBM says companies can use its software to extract sentiment from the use of emoticons and the slang terminology that is used by customers online. The semantic network also knows that a "floating rate" is a "mortgage loan," and "variable rate mortgage" and "adjustable rate mortgage" are synonyms.