Food is a language everyone speaks around the world and it’s cool to see how social media has impacted the food industry over the past 15 years ranging from marketing tactics being implemented to the ways food companies analyze conversations on social media, and this post touches on 3 of the most common ways we see restaurant chains using social media analytics.

Throughout our lives there are outside forces – many of which we can’t control – that either impact us directly or tangentially, and it’s interesting to see how certain behaviors become normal based on pop culture, society and other factors. Though on the other hand, there are behaviors that stand out because they drastically deviate from the norm.

We are living in a social media world where trends drive behaviors and what’s most interesting to us is why such behaviors occur in the first place from the Popeyes chicken sandwich craze to the epic GameStop short squeeze that will live on forever.

The world has been a crazy place lately to say the least, and as pioneers in the social media space it’s sad to see what was first such a positive gateway into the digital universe become a trap that leads to people doubting themselves, basing their behaviors on others, and going to extremes which can include everything from teenagers committing suicide because of online bullying to mass shootings at schools, workplaces, etc. It’s not acceptable.

Looking at a current trial in the news related to a former pirate and his ex-wife which has been generating tons of buzz on social media, it made us think about expert witness testimony we’ve given in the past and in particular how it’s critical to not only understand someone’s qualifications before choosing them as your expert witness, but more importantly how they present themselves in front of a courtroom/jury.

Yet again we have seen evil rear its ugly head and innocent children with big futures are no longer with us physically but will live on forever. Though this keeps happening, there is a light at the end of the tunnel and it comes down to understanding behaviors on social media and noticing when someone shows the earliest cries for help that, if ignored, can spiral into much more.

While cruising on our magic carpet and analyzing behaviors/data we realized a major roadblock that has proven itself time and time again: Social media is like the Wild West and sentiment/trends can change in the blink of an eye. How can companies make sense of hundreds or millions of conversations in the moment by simply looking at combinations of keywords?

Looking at the trajectory of social media over time it’s interesting how social networks evolved from being a platform for people to communicate to a resource for gathering some of the most critical, near real-time insights that could either create big issues for corporations or uncover valuable opportunities.

Imagine going down a path that’s beautiful with flowers blooming, nature thriving, then you start to see signs of something bad on the horizon – social media posts that are cause for concern, disrupting your happiness and you become worried about the future.

Soteria Intelligence is a social media analytics and consulting firm that has guided a variety of law firms on high-profile cases and this post highlights the importance of capturing insights in the moment.