How would you like a “Crystal Ball” that analyzes the sentiment of every email you send and receive …
so you can fine-tune all your communications to trigger the right emotions in your reader and elicit the perceptions you intend?
Just think how powerful and enlightening that could be.
- Could your customer service be giving off a negative vibe and turning off sales?
- Would you like to express firm confidence when communicating with clients?
- Do you want to analyze product reviews to discover which emotions to spark in your next landing page?
Now you can do all of that and more with the help of IBM Watson’s Tone Analyzer.
Simply paste the text of your tweet, online review, email message, blog post excerpt, or French-language product review into the input box and click the big blue Analyze button.
It can analyze the tone of a single sentence or an entire document.
You’ll instantly receive color-coded results and scores for individual sentiments found in your text.
What is Watson, Anyway?
Watson is IBM’s AI platform serving businesses and industry in 45 different countries all over the world. It “learns” from data it gathers. Watson can analyze text, graphics, audio, and video. It converses and uses reason. Because it’s always learning, it grows continually in value.
Watson reached celebrity status when it defeated two Jeopardy champions in 2011. Ken Jennings, who had won 74 consecutive games, and Brad Rutter, who had won over three million dollars in prizes, competed against the flat-screened personality with the colorful swirling face. They had little opportunity to answer as Watson slam-dunked one level after another of “Chicks Dig Me.”
Over the last six years, the technology has developed to serve a growing number of industries. In one study, it outperformed human doctors in diagnosing potentially cancerous skin growths. And it analyzes everything from vineyard irrigation to sentiment in communications … so you benefit from great customer service and a better glass of wine.
“It is not unreasonable to expect that within [the world’s] rapidly growing body of digital information lie the much-needed clues for professionals to solve the major societal challenges of our time from defeating cancer … to managing the complexity of the global economy. And we at IBM believe that AI, or ‘cognitive,’ systems are the tools that will help us accomplish these ambitious goals.” – Guru Banavar, Chief Science Officer of Cognitive Computing and Vice President at IBM Research
Over the next ten years, IBM will be working closely with MIT through the new MIT-IBM Watson AI Lab. The $240 million dollar project will be one of the largest AI partnerships between a University and industry. The research, conducted together by students and Industry scientists, will expand the boundaries of AI in fields such as medical technology and cybersecurity.
How does the Tone Analyzer Work?
The software identifies fours emotional tones: Anger, Fear, Joy, Sadness (they recently dropped Disgust).
In addition, it detects three language tones: Analytical, Confident, and Tentative.
The analyzer scores each on a scale of zero to one. It returns results above .5, and a score of .75 or higher means it’s likely that the emotional indicators are spot-on.
Need to check your texts in another language? Watson can handle Arabic, German, English, Spanish, French, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Brazilian Portuguese, Simplified Chinese, and Traditional Chinese. Developers can grab their own starter kits and sample code to develop their own smart apps.
How will this transform business communication? You’ll be able to …
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- Discover how people are likely to perceive what you write and say
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- Ensure your language supports key messages and concepts
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- Inspire your team to greatness with consistently positive messaging
Now let’s take this a step further.
What if you could identify and respond to more of the key emotional motivators that drive sales? Do you need to tap into exuberant hope or a nagging case of avarice? Imagine having a virtual toolbox on hand for activating those deep feelings. You can propel readers to act in their own best interests. And both customers and clients win.
As a copywriter, I analyze text, talk to prospects, read reviews, study user profiles, dig into data cards, and practice listening. Knowing what prospects are feeling is foundational to marketing. And I keep the language of twenty-seven emotions on hand, so I can choose, test, and revise to bring the best results.
The Tone Analyzer has great potential. I’m giddy at the thought that this app could identify every tone and emotion someday. What power we marketers would have! What hope there could be for peaceful understanding and communication! Who knows? One day, IBM may even be able to give husbands the power to understand their wives.
Are you a writer or marketer? Check the tone of your company’s communications here: Try IBM Watson’s Tone Analyzer
Are you a developer? Work with the tone analyzer free for 30 days on the BlueMix platform.
