The Social Intelligence Technology Landscape
After mapping the social intelligence technology (SITech) landscape for the first time last year, we’re back with an updated version. In 2024 we set out to get rid of vague definitions and marketing jargon and clearly identify the variety of tools available to help with different aspects of social data analysis.
The world of SITech moves fast though and, 12 months on, tools have come and gone, new categories have emerged and innovation is changing the way SITech is being developed. As a result, we’ve updated the map. Now, it includes over 600 different technologies, so download the map to see the full list.
Innovation around SITech moves at a rapid pace. When we created the first map, we knew we’d need to update it regularly. We weren’t expecting that in just a year, we would identify more than 100 new tools in the SITech space. That’s 20% more than in 2024!
The rise of generative AI (Gen AI) has contributed to this. Not only does it open up the field for new players to quickly solve existing challenges, but it also creates new ones which require specific solutions. For example, accessible GenAI tools have led to a flood of mis- and disinformation being shared online. This is a problem for social intelligence practitioners who need to know they can trust the data they’re working with to generate quality insights. It’s also a problem for brands, whose reputations are at risk. As a result, a whole new category of SITech has emerged in 2025 to tackle this.
But, even as the category evolves, the problem remains: it’s not always clear what each of these tools or platforms do. The language is still inconsistent, and the promises are often vague. And that’s why there’s still a need for the SITech Landscape.
Download this year’s SITech landscape map to get:
- A complete, at-a-glance view of the whole social intelligence technology landscape
- Clear explanations of the different social listening technology categories and how they can support your work
- A list of SITech vendors highlighting which categories they operate in
- Analysis of what’s changed in the last 12 months and how it impacts your tech choices
- Real-life case studies showing how brands are using some of this technology
- Insights into the future of social listening technology development…
…and much more
Why is social listening technology so important?
As use of social media and the internet in general has grown over the last couple of decades, brands have more data to understand their customers better than ever before. The problem is, there’s now too much for a human to analyse.
That’s where SITech comes in. These tools can help you quickly collect and analyse this vast amount of data and discover insights about consumers that you can use to shape your growth strategy. And, as the space develops, many are incorporating innovative technology, such as AI and predictive analytics, to make it even easier for social listening pros to work better and quicker.
But, while it can be tempting to rely on these tools to do the work for us, the best insights usually come from mixing technology and manual analysis. This makes it really important to choose the right tech based on the projects you’re working on.
How to choose the right social listening tools
Most SITech started by simply offering a way to track and monitor conversations that were happening online: think brand mentions, social media engagement etc. However it’s now developed to help you with more advanced tasks: audience analysis, real-time analysis, trend prediction and so on. This is great…when the tools do what they say they’re going to do. But, while many use these fancy buzz words, they’re not always going to work for your social listening projects.
That means you need to take charge when buying new tech to make sure you’re choosing the one(s) that’s right for your business. So, be clear about your objectives, think about how it will work with the rest of your tech stack and make sure it meets the needs and use cases of all users.
What does the SITech Landscape look like?
When we first looked at the SITech landscape, we were amazed by its size. Many vendors offer really innovative solutions to our biggest challenges, but some claim to be SITech when they aren’t really. There are also a few that aren’t even marketing themselves as SITech but support social data projects in some way.
Having spent another year reviewing the map and researching how the industry has changed, we’ve now identified 624 social intelligence technology providers - over 100 more than in 2024. These are placed into 9 technology categories with 39 subcategories ranging from Social Listening & Monitoring to Trends & Foresight. This year, we’ve added a new category - Social Audio Intelligence - and split the Narrative Threat Analysis subcategory into two - Misinformation/ Disinformation and Risk & Reputation Intelligence. This shows how technology is increasingly becoming more specialised.
Within each category and subcategory, we’ve given clear definitions to explain the different elements of social intelligence they cover and the use cases that they can help with. This should make building your SITech stack easier.
What’s the future of SITech?
It’s clear that the SITech landscape will continue growing and evolving rapidly. In just 12 months we’ve seen the addition of 100+ new tools, we’ve witnessed others disappear, and we’ve seen shifting in some of the subcategories. And over the last few years, we’ve experienced how generative AI has influenced our industry and the impact different media, such as short-form video and audio, has on tech developments.
On top of this, we’re also predicting that we’ll see SITech vendors beginning to focus on things like predictive analytics, AI-native platforms, agentic AI, real-time optimisation, personalisation at scale and enhanced collaboration. You can read more about what this all means and how it might impact you in the report.
Download the SITech Landscape map to find your perfect tool
Getting to grips with who does what, how, where and why in the social intelligence tech space is no easy task. And as these tools are supposed to make your life easier, you shouldn’t need a degree in decoding marketing jargon to work out which ones are best for the projects you’re working on. So we did the hard work for you and laid it all out in a handy map. The report also:
- Outlines the different social intelligence categories
- Lists the different tools and technologies that fall under each category
- Explains exactly what the tools in each category does
- Gives you an idea of which types of tools you should be using for which use cases
This is useful whether you’re a seasoned professional looking for a new addition to your tech stack, or a complete novice just trying to understand WTF social listening technology even is.
So what are you waiting for, download the report now.
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