Digging deeper into public sentiment

Just in time for the election cycle, Jericho-based General Sentiment, which analyzes one billion websites a day for clients who want to see how they or their products are being perceived by the public, is coming out with a "social analytics building block" program. It allows users -- news media types, take note -- to dig deeper into sentiment and customize their searches.

So a news organization, for example, would be able to dig into the sentiment of likely voters in, say, Ohio, who are of a certain age range and live in a particular part of the state and voted in such-and-such a way.

"Right now, we offer specific analysis tuned to specific industries," said chief executive Ari Kahn. "We found we needed to be more flexible. We wanted to offer deeper analysis."

The product is to be made available sometime early this year. Kahn said he believes the offering is unique in the sentiment industry. "This is definitely going to move us past the state-of-the-art," he said.

The new product will also be applicable to industries other than the news business, from autos to electronics.