What does social intelligence mean to you?
Social intelligence is the art and science of understanding human behaviour through digital interactions. It goes beyond monitoring metrics or listening to conversations; it’s about uncovering the deeper insights that drive sentiment, decisions, and, ultimately, actions. Social intelligence bridges raw data and actionable knowledge, enabling brands to interpret and understand what people say and the context, emotions, and intent behind their words and actions. At its core, social intelligence is about elevating the conversation, turning online signals into a roadmap for impactful decisions.
What are you doing that no-one else is to drive the social intelligence industry forward?
While there are many talented professionals contributing to the advancement of social intelligence, I've been fortunate to play my part by leveraging nearly two decades of diverse experience, working brand-side, agency-side, vendor-side, and working with social platforms too. This broad perspective allows me to view the industry from every angle and identify unique opportunities for growth and collaboration. Lately, my focus has been on giving back to the community that shaped my career. Landmark projects like the SITech Landscape map, a first-of-its-kind resource, aim to bring order and clarity to an industry that has evolved tremendously over the past two decades. By creating resources that benefit everyone in the field, from seasoned professionals to newcomers, I’m working to foster a more inclusive and accessible industry. At the heart of my recent work is a desire to create what I wish had existed when I began my journey 17 years ago. Through tools, guides, etc., I aim to support the next generation of social intelligence practitioners, empowering them to navigate and shape this dynamic field.
It's the year 2030: What does the practice of social listening look like?
By 2030, social listening will have transformed into a sophisticated ecosystem capable of navigating an increasingly complex digital landscape. One of the most critical advancements will be tools designed to detect and mitigate misinformation embedded in social listening tools, enabling brands to proactively address false narratives and build trust. Social intelligence platforms will be able to identify the subtle patterns of misinformation campaigns and offer real-time solutions to counteract them. The prevalence of AI agents and AI influencers/content creators will also reshape the practice. Social listening tools will distinguish between signals generated by humans vs AI. This differentiation will be vital for understanding authentic consumer sentiment versus algorithmically driven trends. These tools will recognise patterns unique to AI-generated content, enabling brands to assess the broader context of influence and its genuine impact on their audience. Finally, social listening in 2030 will be deeply contextual and multimodal: analysing text, as well as visual, audio (and potentially even biometric) data, will become the norm to offer a more nuanced understanding of current and predictive consumer behaviour.
What is the most common question you are helping your clients answer?
The most common question I’m helping to answer has evolved over the years, reflecting the industry’s shift from reactive to predictive insights. Early in my career, social intelligence was heavily focused on the present, understanding real-time performance, managing crises, and responding to immediate consumer sentiment. Over time, as datasets grew richer, the emphasis shifted to trends and patterns, examining how historical data informs the current moment. Today, the key question is how to connect the dots across the past, present, and future. Clients increasingly seek to tie together historical trends, real-time insights, and predictive forecasts to make informed strategic decisions. While this framework isn’t new, my approach has deepened over the years, integrating diverse signals (beyond just social data) to provide more contextual and actionable insights. The goal is to move from answering “what’s happening” to understanding “why it’s happening” and “what’s likely to happen next”. This shift also means focusing on nuance: interpreting what’s visible on the surface and the emerging signals that reveal hidden opportunities or risks, to navigate uncertainty and plan confidently for the road ahead.
Have you got a favourite social intelligence use case or case study from the last year?
While I don’t have a single standout use case, what’s been most inspiring over the past year is witnessing the rise of social intelligence centres of excellence. I’ve had the privilege of engaging with brilliant professionals who are building or contributing to these hubs and showcasing how they’re leveraging SI tool stacks to unlock new insights and drive impact. These conversations, whether in my LinkedIn inbox or at industry events, have been a testament to the growth and maturity of social intelligence as a discipline. The adoption of social intelligence has seen its share of fluctuations, particularly before 2020. Post-2020, however, there’s been a marked shift as more brands recognise that social listening isn’t just a nice-to-have but an essential capability. These centres of excellence empower practitioners to create innovative use cases and compelling case studies highlighting the power of social data. Seeing platforms like the Social Intelligence Lab amplify these stories is equally encouraging. In 2025, I look forward to even more researchers showcasing their efforts and showing off these centres of excellence, creating a space where collaboration and shared knowledge can push our industry forward.
They say to be great you need to read around your subject – what are you currently reading or your favourite book and what insights have you been able to apply to your work?
One of my favourite books of all time, and one that has been immensely helpful in my work in social intelligence, is Because Internet by Gretchen McCulloch. It’s an essential read for anyone looking to understand how the internet is shaping language and what our digital interactions reveal about who we are. For those in social intelligence, this is indispensable for making sense of online conversations, decoding the nuances of how people communicate in digital spaces, and uncovering the deeper cultural and emotional layers behind them. I often recommend this book as a must-read for newcomers and seasoned professionals in the field. (Also, if you’re a linguistics and sociology nerd like myself, you’re definitely going to love this.) Another book I return to every few years is The Shape of Engagement by Scott Gould. This book dives into the art of building lasting connections with customers, employees, and communities. It’s been invaluable for understanding what engagement looks like and how to foster it meaningfully. When paired with Because Internet, it forms a powerful toolkit: one for understanding the why behind online language and the other for mastering the how of meaningful engagement.
If you had to share three emojis that summed up social intelligence, what would they be?
🧩 (Puzzle Piece) – Social intelligence is a discipline of connections. It’s about taking fragmented signals from here and there – conversations, behaviours, trends – and piecing them together to form a coherent story. Every insight is a piece of a larger picture. This emoji reflects how we carefully fit disparate data into a unified understanding.
🌌 (Milky Way) – This is a nice segue from the puzzle piece emoji – the Milky Way! This represents the vast and interconnected universe of social intelligence. It highlights the endless opportunities to explore and understand the ever-expanding digital landscape. This emoji also symbolises the complexity of navigating through millions of conversations, signals, and platforms to find meaning.
🎭 (Performing Arts Masks) – Social intelligence is as much about understanding human emotion as it is about analysing data. The masks represent the duality of online expression, highlighting the nature of social intelligence: understanding both the public-facing narratives (the performance) and the underlying emotions (the hidden mask). This duality allows for a deeper, more empathetic connection with audiences, making this emoji a perfect symbol for our discipline’s human-centred focus.
What advice would you give to a brand who wanted to create an internal social intelligence team?
Start by hiring technical experts who can create robust setups, craft meaningful queries, and translate insights into actionable recommendations for stakeholders – but don’t stop there. Make space for the curious junior professionals (even better if they’re “chronically online”!). These are the people who speak social media as a native language, who understand the nuances of online culture, and who can read between the lines of mentions to uncover the human stories behind the data. Never discount the potential of these budding professionals. My own journey in social intelligence began when a forward-thinking manager encouraged me to carve out this role within a team that didn’t yet see its need. That opportunity was transformational, and it’s a gift brands can pay forward to the next generation of talent. Data, after all, is meaningless without understanding. The numbers are only part of the story: what matters most is seeing the people behind them. Pair technical expertise with cultural fluency, and equip your team with resources like the SITech Landscape map to guide your tool selection. Investing in the right tools and people will ensure your social intelligence team thrives.
What are you looking forward to in social listening for 2025?
On the tech side, I’d love to see more diversity of data integrated into social listening tools. Historically, the focus has been on text-based analysis, and while we’ve seen advancements like image recognition and, to some extent, audio and video processing, there’s room for so much more. I’d like to see tools seamlessly incorporating search data and other implicit signals, as well as better integration of audio data. A holistic, multimodal approach to data will make insights richer and more contextual. Equally important is fostering diversity in the expertise of professionals entering the social intelligence space: I’d love to see more interdisciplinary approaches, bringing in expertise from fields like semiotics, econometrics, linguistics, sociology, and beyond. The overlap between these disciplines and social intelligence can provide teams with an expanded context and fresh perspectives, making our work more innovative and impactful. Finally, I’m hoping for a big surprise in 2025, something so unconventional and brilliantly executed that it redefines how we approach social listening. I’m excited for an “aha!” moment that shakes things up and pushes us all to grow, adapt, and rethink what’s possible.
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