Polecat Launches Energy Census on the World's Online Conversation

LONDON, July 17, 2012 /PRNewswire/ --

Census will track scale, sentiment and perception in real-time towards energy globally

Polecat, a leading international business intelligence company, today launched a global Energy Census to provide industry-leading understanding of the world's online conversation about energy.   The Energy Census, published quarterly, will track online conversation about energy through Polecat's virtual analyst platform MeaningMine. The international, national and individual influencer findings will serve as a barometer of public and industry opinion to inform executive-level decision making in the energy sector.

Polecat's virtual analyst platform MeaningMine has already identified the following about the world's conversation online about energy in 2012:

1. In the last quarter alone, the energy debate has contributed to 60% of conversation referencing one of seven major industries around capitalism and financial security in the US and Canada
2. During that same period, discussions around energy and human rights have increased by 135% on the previous quarter
3. In the past three months 337,000 postings have cited natural gas and shale gas related topics alone with significantly different tone and public perception attached to these two sub-topics

Polecat's Energy Census will turn big and unstructured data about the world's online energy conversation online into intelligence.  It will ingest millions of online articles and social media posts from across platforms including Twitter and Facebook every day to produce in-depth reports and graphics in real-time.

Bronwyn Kunhardt, Managing Director & Co-Founder, Polecat, said: "The topic of energy is one of the busiest subjects online worldwide as people discuss its impact on our daily lives and the wellbeing of Planet Earth.  While the role of energy in the global economy is clear and growing in importance, protests and activism also continue to increase quarter on quarter.  Our Energy Census will investigate and inform how policy makers and energy companies understand public sentiment online while dealing with the growth and security of a country's energy supplies amidst concerns over corruption and protests."

The first phase of Polecat's Energy Census is to be released this summer and will lead with the topic of gas.  From natural gas, shale gas, offshore and fracking, the Energy Census will track public perception, sentiment of discussions, appreciation of economic benefits and investments in gas and the role of NGOs from an international to local level. It will make sense of big data findings already highlighting, for example, the campaigns across the world where NGOs have a larger or smaller share of voice or the impact of online conversation from people living in individual towns involved in gas exploration. Subsequent topics will include nuclear, renewables, energy efficiency and NGOs.

John Elkington, Founding Partner & Executive Chairman of Volans, Co-founder of SustainAbility, said: "Energy is the lifeblood of business, of our economies and of capitalism more broadly. It is a crucial, often-taken-for-granted element in our modern world. Growing numbers of us need accurate, unbiased and timely information about energy. Polecat's new Energy Census underscores the value of real-time intelligence about the world of energy-and how it intersects with the worlds of innovation, enterprise, investment and human wellbeing."

Kunhardt concludes: "Energy is a topic never far from the headlines and invoke passionate and informed discussions from those in the industry, government and public at large. This census, the first of its kind, aims to provide a detailed picture of the entire global energy debate across online articles and social media and serve as the most complete source of information for the industry."

Visit http://www.polecat.co, follow Polecat's Twitter handle @MeaningMine and the #EnergyCensus hashtag to keep up to date on the Energy Census.

About Polecat

Polecat is a market-leading software and services company that transforms digital content into strategic insights for executive-level decision-making. Its Virtual Analyst solution, MeaningMine, is used by some of the world's largest companies, government bodies and consulting firms including Shell, BP, BT, Microsoft, UK Trade & Investment and Ernst & Young.  Founded in 2008 by two ex-Microsoft directors, the Polecat team includes industry experts, Fortune 500 executives, leading text and data analysts and professors of engineering/informatics.

For more details, visit http://www.polecat.co, follow @Polecatmm.