Why social intelligence and social listening is The Job of The Future

"The pandemic has changed the way people behave, online and offline. And as a community, social intelligence and social listening professionals have seen a rising interest in the work they do to understand that behavior and turn it into insights a brand can take action on. But we still have a way to go before social intelligence becomes mainstream.

Myth: social intelligence and social listening are technology-based

You’d be forgiven for thinking that the work of social listening and social intelligence is dominated by big technology companies and software. One misunderstanding that still prevails the industry is that social intelligence is a machine, with insights being generated at the press of a button. *sighs* If only. 

The majority of social intelligence pros still use off-platform, manual processes to do some, if not all, their analysis

Social data technology has advanced hugely over the last 5 years, with the development of AI and visual analysis. Social intelligence practitioners now have access to automation to make some of the job easier but it’s also opened up some challenges. The more complex the data, the more robust methods we need for analysis. Social media channels have also developed (think TikTok, Insta reels etc) and shows no sign of slowing down, ever! We have to keep up with the data but there’s only ever so much technology can do. It’s the skills in analyzing that need to advance.

We’re seeing more academic leadership in social data

Words like linguistics and semiotics are gaining buzzword- value in social intelligence and rightly so. As more people see the need to deepen their understanding of the human psyche and cultural intelligence in order to gain meaning from the data, they’re turning to academic disciplines to do so.

Why should you work in social intelligence?

Social intelligence and social listening are more than ways for businesses to measure social media success. More and more are realizing that the data on the internet (conversational data, social data) holds the answers to the majority, if not all, of businesses’ challenges. Social data is the point at which businesses and brands really meet the world they exist to serve. 

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