Sentiment Analysis is Rubbish

            Sentiment it is purely subjective to the reader.

This post is about sentiment as applied to news articles, TV segments, blog posts, social media comments etc. where it is used as a metric in corporate communications and public relations measurement programs.

No matter how you slice up sentiment analysis 3-point scale, 5 point scale – I’ve even seen a 7 point scale, it is ALL subjective.

I will go so far as to say it is subjective to the reader at that point in time, given their

1. understanding, interest and engagement of the topic
2. comprehension of the article
3. preconceived bias toward the author, topic, focus of the article
4. personal feelings, tastes and opinion

Still not with me here? Let’s say 10 people read an article, editorial or  blog post and agree that it is positive, negative or neutral overall but the 11th, 21st or 101st person reading the…