The terms of social listening, explained.
Operational definitions, not academic ones. So that when we talk about the topic, we're all talking about the same thing.
What is social listening?
The practice of capturing, analyzing and interpreting public digital conversation to inform business decisions. What it includes, what it doesn't include, and how it differs from monitoring.
Read definition →What is consumer intelligence?
The discipline of turning consumer conversation and behavior into actionable readings for C-level decisions. What sets it apart from traditional market research.
Read definition →Social listening vs brand monitoring
Monitoring mentions isn't the same as interpreting conversation. Comparison table across 8 dimensions: output, depth, audience, analysis layer and more.
See comparison →What is Share of Voice (SoV)?
The proportion of your brand's mentions over the total of the competitive set in a given period and market. Formula, readings, common mistakes.
Read definition →The vocabulary, in one line.
Sentiment analysis
Classifying conversation as positive, negative or neutral. It works as a thermometer, not as the only reading: volume and context matter as much as the sign.
Share of Conversation
What portion of a category's entire conversation a topic or a brand occupies. Unlike Share of Voice, it isn't limited to direct mentions: it measures presence in the debate.
Engagement rate
Interactions (reactions, comments, shares) over reach or followers. A follower isn't a person who reacts: engagement measures who actually moves.
Reach vs. impact
Reach counts how many saw it; impact, how many did something. A post with 25M views can generate more rejection than support.
Earned, owned and paid media
Earned: what others say without the brand paying. Owned: the brand's channels. Paid: advertising. Reading them separately avoids confusing diffusion with credibility.
NPS (Net Promoter Score)
A recommendation metric: promoters minus detractors. It measures stated loyalty, not what people say when no one is asking them.
Trend analysis
Telling a passing fad from a structural change by looking at the structure of the conversation — maturity, concentration, attention ratio — not sales, which arrive late.
Reputational intelligence
Measuring a brand's real exposure to a crisis or a sensitive topic, week by week, to decide when to step in and when silence deflates it.
Macro / micro / nano influencer
Three audience scales. Size doesn't predict impact: a nano-influencer can generate more engagement per follower than a macro.
Dark social
Conversation that happens through private channels — messaging, closed groups — and doesn't appear in the public feed. It exists even if it isn't easily measured.
Early crisis detection
Identifying the origin, time and account of an outbreak before it escalates, to respond in time instead of reacting late.
Public affairs intelligence
Reading the conversation about regulation, politics and public opinion that can affect a brand or a sector, before it becomes a topic.