What does social intelligence mean to you?
To me, social intelligence is a research method that focuses on understanding the dynamics and the narrative happening on social media. These platforms are more than just information sources—they are interactive spaces where individuals and brands influence one another, generate trends, opinions and shape movements. After years of working with traditional qualitative and quantitative research methods, I couldn’t ignore the emerging significance of this field of study. Instead of directly asking questions to individuals, social intelligence relies on observing and listening to online behaviors of users. It captures the organic, unfiltered conversations that reflect authentic, often unique opinions—insights that are difficult to obtain through more conventional research techniques. Social intelligence allows us to focus on broader cultural phenomena, offering a lens into cultural dynamics and human behavior at scale.
What are you doing that no-one else is to drive the social intelligence industry forward?
What sets me apart in driving the social intelligence industry forward is my approach to web listening as a true research method, on par with traditional qualitative and quantitative methods. My team and I aimed at apply specific rules, criteria, techniques, and rigor to ensure a high standard of analysis. We also use to go beyond simple quantitative or vanity metrics, for adopting a deep view, often approaching to a netnographic approach. Another unique aspect of my work is integrating web listening into larger, more comprehensive research projects, where it either complements or supports qualitative and quantitative phases. This integration adds depth and richness to the insights we provide. Additionally, I use web listening in a highly flexible and creative way, tailoring it to meet client needs. There have been many occasions where I conducted unconventional web listening projects, where initial concerns about availability of data emerged. However, the vastness of the web always delivers answers, often in ways that exceed expectations, allowing for insights in areas that were initially thought to be underrepresented. This adaptability and willingness to experiment with new applications of web listening are what drive innovation in the field. Additionally, me and my team are open to new technologies, to test many crawler platforms, try new providers, create networks with experts.
It's the year 2030: What does the practice of social listening look like?
By 2030, social listening will be deeply integrated with AI and predictive technologies. Data collection will be more personalized and targeted, using algorithms to analyze real-time behaviors and provide accurate predictions. Sentiment and emotional analysis will evolve, incorporating cultural and contextual factors for richer insights. The seamless integration of online and offline data will offer a comprehensive view of brand perception and public opinion. Social listening will become a central tool for reputation management and strategic marketing, enabling businesses to not only react but anticipate shifts in consumer sentiment. AI will enhance the ability to detect early signs of trends or potential crises, allowing brands to address issues proactively. This fusion of real-time analytics, emotional intelligence, and AI will transform social listening from a tool of observation into a dynamic, predictive resource that drives decision-making and fosters stronger connections between brands and their audiences. It will be essential for companies to remain agile and responsive in an increasingly complex and fast-moving digital landscape. And also researchers’ job will enhance a lot with this developments, diminishing manual tasks and enriching perspective and insights generation.
What is the most common question you are helping your clients answer?
The most common questions I help clients answer are related to reputation monitoring. Clients often ask: "How does my online reputation compare to my offline reputation and my competitors?" or "Are there any emerging crisis points online regarding my company that need immediate attention?" A reputation management plan is certainly one of the most frequent requests. However, there are many other areas we focus on, such as analyzing the impact of social media communication, identifying and evaluating influencers, detecting trends, and mapping the consumer or patient journey, especially in the pharmaceutical sector. Additionally, I assist clients with social competitive intelligence, helping them understand how their brand performs relative to competitors and what opportunities or threats may be emerging.
Have you got a favourite social intelligence use case or case study from the last year?
It’s difficult for me to pick just one use case, as I am particularly drawn to projects that involve sociological interpretations of social phenomena. The web provides a unique opportunity to analyze trends and behaviors from a sociological perspective, which can be quite insightful, even in marketing contexts. One such case involved trend detection related to changes in alcohol consumption habits after the pandemic. We were able to observe how social media conversations revealed shifts in consumer behavior and preferences. Another memorable project focused on analyzing online reviews of major Italian museums over the past five years, which provided valuable insights into visitor sentiment and the evolution of their expectations. We also conducted a very stimulating study to identify personas among users involved in a specific oncology therapeutic area, allowing us to map out the unique needs and concerns of this highly niche audience. Each of these cases stands out because they allowed us to explore complex social behaviors through the lens of social intelligence, offering actionable insights that go beyond simple data analysis.
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?
I usually follow webinars from providers or other market research institutes to stay updated on social listening. I believe the academic field is lacking in publications on this subject. Best way for me to keep me updated is Linkedin groups, Social Intelligence Lab :) and experts links.
If you had to share three emojis that summed up social intelligence, what would they be?
The iceberg symbolizes the ability to go beyond surface-level metrics. Social intelligence allows us to dive deep and uncover insights that are hidden beneath the surface, just like an iceberg beneath the sea. It’s about understanding the full picture, beyond simple surface metrics.
🔮 (Crystal Ball) – This represents the predictive power of social listening. By analyzing web data, we can uncover trends and patterns that provide valuable insights and predictions, helping brands anticipate future shifts in consumer behavior or market dynamics.
👑 (The crown) – Representing influence and authority, this emoji highlights the ability of social listening to identify key players and understand how power dynamics shape online narratives.
What advice would you give to a brand who wanted to create an internal social intelligence team?
My advice would be to start with a dedicated and well-structured team, not something improvised. It's essential to have a multidisciplinary team that includes researchers, web analysts and data scientists. Researchers bring methodological rigor and ensure that the approach to social listening is grounded in solid research principles. Web analysts are crucial for understanding the dynamics of different platforms and how information flows on them. Data scientists play an essential role in processing data, building predictive models, applying AI, implementing text analytics models, conducting custom scraping, and creating dashboards to visualize insights. Together, this team can handle the complexity of social intelligence and effectively interpret the vast amount of data coming from online sources. This balanced and specialized approach will allow brands to not only track what’s happening on the web but to make sense of it in a meaningful, strategic way.
What are you looking forward to in social listening for 2025?
For 2025, I am excited to see further integration of AI and machine learning technologies into social listening platforms. Specifically, I expect crawlers to become faster and more efficient in their data collection, while integrating AI more seamlessly to provide more accurate insights. I hope sentiment and topic analysis will become increasingly simplified and precise, making it easier to extract meaningful information from vast datasets. Additionally, I look forward to greater integration with enrichment algorithms that can add value to the data by providing context and enhancing its relevance.
It would be ideal if social media platforms expanded, rather than restricted, their API access for crawlers, enabling better data extraction for research purposes. Another exciting prospect is the potential for some crawlers to consolidate, offering a comprehensive, all-in-one solution. This could include everything from data collection to analysis, influencer identification, predictive AI analytics, dashboards, and even control rooms. A more unified approach would streamline workflows and allow for more holistic insights, helping brands stay ahead in an increasingly data-driven landscape.
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