Monitoring social media

Most companies utilize social media monitoring companies in order to promote their company and come into new opportunities not previously offered. Social media is mainly looked at by CEOs and Presidents as a marketing cash cow. As the article states, Twitter is chasing 1 billion users and has increased 1,382% while Facebook has increased by 228% since 2009. Having their companies brand on those websites will create an association with new customers and establish a better one with already existing customers. The use for social media monitoring is becoming much more useful than just advertising.
    Recently I have seen articles of companies using monitoring tools to understand how their company is being portrayed and how frequently it is being talked about on the social networks. This type of software picks up on key words and associates them as negative or positive. It doesn't account for context of the word though. "This item from Company X is sick" can be perceived as a negative statement because it doesn't take english slang and context into account, producing a false negative report of the company's product. Haveing a program that screens Tweets and Facebook posts is a very useful tool provided they are sifted by people or some sort of intelligence that can process slang language tendencies and context.
    The major use for social media monitoring is data relevant to the company and their product. It is important to monitor their specific name and product, but it is more important to monitor the product genre as a whole. For instance, major restaurant chains can monitor all types of food interaction to see what people are eating, when they are eating, and what they are eating it with. They can also see if the person liked the meal or said they would never get it again. Companies can see what types of food are more prevalent in certain locations and adjust their menus in those areas according. Afterwards, looking at the same social media data they can determine if their new items created a buzz and whether it was positive or negative feedback.