Data mining social data is driven by technology that continues to break new ground. Some would go so far as to say this tech has unlimited reach, with the potential to improve society’s overall health. Currently, organizations of all types are utilizing social media data mining to track opinions and form strategic and targeted business decisions.

SiliconANGLE recently spoke to Chris Bingham, chief technology officer at Crimson Hexagon, Inc., about the methods, vertical opportunities and challenges that go along with running a data-based social media insights company. Crimson Hexagon’s flexible application lets businesses of all sorts drill down on general trends. The idea is to contextualize social media users by connecting their dots across the public web.

The importance of real-world use cases

What was the key turning point in Crimson Hexagon converting data services into a business?

Bingham: One important turning point was convincing people that analyzing social media data is important. Now that everyone’s bought into the concept, the applications of this data extend beyond social data and can direct other departments. Crimson Hexagon provides analytics and “the right answer” to businesses seeking insight for specific scenarios, like making the right investment or targeting the right social platforms.

We’ve all got something we can learn here. The use cases matter more than the [business] verticals. Someone in charge of consumer opinion research — if they’re making shoes or electronics or food — they need to understand consumer opinions and needs and track it over time. Someone in the public relations [department] has a different set of concerns.

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Tell us about the technology behind your product.

Bingham: We have about 550 billion posts in our system and take about 650 million per day. It’s all pulled into a database and is accessible to our users. It’s broad and can be used across verticals. Our flagship opinion technology lets you look at topics specific to your business. It really works hand in hand with the business user to understand what they want to look at and how they define things.

Look at the audience instead of the content. A few years ago the people talking about gluten free food were [of a smaller demographic], but now those topics are more mainstream. We can provide businesses data on who their customers are.

Beyond understanding [the audience’s] broad characteristics, we provide detail. In addition to being gluten-free, they may also be vegan. We can tell businesses what issues this audience really cares about, providing insight on what makes them most different. What websites they visit, which audience members are influential, and what television shows they watch.

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Big Data challenges

What are the biggest challenges you’re seeing?

Bingham: For us, in particular, there’s been a tremendous amount of hype around Big Data, and people realize that data by itself is just that, an enormous pile of data. Unless you have the right tools, visualizations, processes and applications to turn that data into insights and then actions, it’s just a bunch of data.

Our product is very broad and our customers are diverse, seeking different things with their data insight. Some customers look at long term trends in the industry, looking at emerging and dying trends to develop their next product. That’s market research on what’s changed over time, tuned to the priorities key for each business. This is a product that can be applied to athletic footwear or breakfast food.

Q. What trends are you seeing to that end?

Bingham: What one trend we see in the industry is people realizing the potential in social data — using a product that enables them to get facts from that data and then realizing that they haven’t learned much that’s relevant to business decisions. So that’s where we come in and say how to take that data and turn it into better decisions.