Measuring Emotion

Continuing from last time, we introduce major trends from Dentsu Inc. Aegis Network Carat's "TOP 10 TRENDS" for 2016.

Social media is a world of self-expression. When someone is trying to convey something, it's crucial to understand the emotions behind it.

Like interpreting images, deciphering emotions is notoriously tricky. Automatic translation has long struggled with complex contexts, slang, and double negatives. Now, new tools are emerging that can more accurately capture emotions and effectively leverage them in expression.

Affectiva, a startup specializing in emotion analysis born from MIT's Media Lab, measures emotions using facial recognition technology. It's being applied to various business solutions. Microsoft is also testing an AI program that analyzes emotions. On its test site, it categorizes the expressions in user-submitted photos into eight emotions like joy, sadness, and surprise.

On social media, emojis have made it easy to understand a poster's feelings. Emojis are searchable in Instagram posts and YouTube video descriptions. Facebook added five new emojis—"Love," "Haha," "Wow," "Sad," and "Phew"—to its "Reactions" feature, an extension of the "Like" button.

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Previously, consumer moods were segmented by time of day—from morning to night—to define targets. Going forward, targeting based on actual emotions, such as how consumers feel in this very moment, may become mainstream.

By understanding what emotions their brand evokes in consumers, advertisers can provide better services and build closer relationships with users.