Media
MAJOR SOCIAL AND DIGITAL MEDIA STUDY EXAMINES THE MOOD OF CANADIANS — AND IT’S NOT GOOD
08 December 2022: Toronto, ON — In a first major study of its kind, Social Signals reveals the mood of Canadians and it’s decidedly negative and overwhelmingly so. Between June 20 and October 23, zeitgeistAI, a social engagement agency, gathered and analyzed 500,000 data points of Canadian social and digital media users showing an emotional state of deep negativity. The results were mined via the Canadian users of Twitter and Reddit. “It’s no surprise that Canadians are unhappy but what surprised us is how deep those sentiments were,” says Bourke Marrison, managing director of zeitgeistAI. “The results are reflective of the national mood and what we are going through, but also portends to the future and how decision-makers might direct their thinking from politics to policy to products to playtime based on these findings.”
Amid this negative maelstrom, there was one bright spot: Indigenous People. Social Signals saw positive sentiment for Indigenous People along with an emerging understanding of the history of Canada and how historical actions have impacted these populations.
Social Signals is a new way to take the pulse of Canadians. Unlike research which poses questions to respondents, zeitgeistAI’s technology just pulls out sentiments in real time, revealing the unvarnished and honest thoughts of users in the moment, a kind of truth that illustrates a collective frame of mind. Put together, they paint an enlightening picture not just of the recent past, but where the emotional state can be predictive of future behaviours. “Four months of data reveals lots of patterns and while social and digital media can invite anger and negativity, the volume and magnitude of such negativity cannot be understated,” says Mr. Marrison.
Some highlights of Social Signals include:
- Canada; A vast majority of the commentary was not only negative (65%), but much of it very intensely so
- Government: Similar to the above, the bulk of the content analyzed was negative. Of note here was the repeated instances of that negativity being of the highest level on our intensity scale
- People: We’ve become a disunified mosaic. As the largest single topical area we detected, the bulk of the content analyzed was intensely negative. Even content that was determined to be neutral tended to skew towards the negative. We’re arguing about COVID, government, economy, money, and more
- Trudeau: The online commentary we analyzed was particularly notable in that we saw only negative measures — and in keeping with the general tenor of the overall study, much of it was determined to be of extremely negative intensity
- Indigenous Peoples: Within all the rancor and divisiveness Social Signals did see an interesting and positive detail worth noting and watching. There was a distinct reference to Indigenous People along with Canadians’ understanding of the history of our country and its impact upon these populations.
These findings, when combined with some interpretative measures, could explain:
- A migration to entertainment, travel, and other offerings that help with escapement – including documented increases in the consumption of drugs and alcohol
- The need for mental health solutions, present and future
- The emphatic urge for change, which could explain phenomena such as the Great Resignation, the recent wholesale elections of new slates in Metro Vancouver politics, and other such significant social and political movements
- The general distrust of Government and the wisdom of the Liberal Party to enter the next election with Justin Trudeau as leader unless there’s a turnaround in his popularity
- The outbursts of racism and populism
- The continued importance of Truth and Reconciliation in Canadian society, along with an emerging acceptance of the role of First Nations Peoples.
About Social Signals:
Time period: June 20 – October 23, 2022
Datapoints: ~500,000
Sources: Twitter Canada and Reddit Canada
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DEC 15, THURSDAY
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About zeitgeistAI:
zeitgeistAI is a social engagement agency that uses its proprietary marketing technology platform to mine the digital and social universe for insights, and turning them into social incites for policies, corporate brands and services, or campaigns. In addition to providing digital monitoring and sentiment insights related to topics or issues, and the language nuances used to express these emotions, zeitgeistAI’s technology allows clients and users to speak directly to social and digital netizens. It’s social engagement at its finest. By identifying specific creators of user-generated content on the public web and their associated sentiments and language used to express their thoughts about you, zeitgeistAI can provide direct outbound messaging capabilities based on the insights we generate. That’s just one of our advantages — actionable insights.
For more information, please contact:
Kelvin Yeung
Hamazaki Wong Marketing Group
kelvin@hamazakiwong.com or (778) 998-9234