How are we reacting to England's Euro 2012 campaign? Social media conversations analysed
Data analysts are monitoring the sentiment of online conversations relating to England's Euro 2012 campaign. Was the France result deemed a success
Are we warming to Hodgson
Find out below.
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by John Burn-Murdoch 11 months ago
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Social media analysts from Meltwater Buzz are monitoring online reactions to England's performances in Poland and Ukraine as part of the British Pride Index, a broader project conceived by Freeview.

Tens of thousands of conversations and messages from platforms including Facebook, Twitter and personal blogs have been analysed, with the results showing changes in the perceptions both of the England team as a whole and of key individuals.

Over the last two weeks the volume of social media output carrying either expectations or reactions relating to England at Euro 2012 has risen steadily, and the proportion of positive reactions to the team as a whole peaked following Monday's 1-1 draw with France.

The volume of online conversations and the level of analysis undertaken to obtain sentiment data are both impressive. In the last fortnight over 80,000 messages have been dissected from Twitter alone.

In order to ensure results are as reliable as possible - excluding Jubilee-related conversations about England, for example - content undergoing analysis must include references either to the Football Association (FA), Euro 2012 or, more generally, football.

The volume of online conversations - either positive or negative - about England rocketed on Monday, and positive messages outnumbered negative reactions by almost three to one as the campaign got off to a solid start.

The 'overall tone' of messages mentioning England (negative content subtracted from positive, both as a proportion of the total across both categories) reached +44%, its highest value yet.

Roy Hodgson also appears to be finding favour with online commenters. Having seen negative conversations outnumber positive by almost ten to one in the wake of his decision to stand by his overlooking of Rio Ferdinand and call up Liverpool's Martin Kelly, favourable conversations were almost on a par with disapproving content following the France result.

Data on individual players is also being monitored, and the huge burst of positive reaction to Joleon Lescott after he gave England the lead on Monday comes as no surprise.

The earlier peak in Lescott's mentions came after the friendly over Belgium, where he emerged as the most likely candidate to replace Gary Cahill in the starting XI. The reaction at that time was predominantly negative, but his goal against France evidently went a long way towards silencing his critics.

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