How Brand Listener reads what customers say
The same discipline as our other products, applied to consumer conversation: every reading carries a tier, inaccessible platforms are named as gaps, and disagreement between sources is reported rather than blended.
Signal tiers
| Verified | Directly observed on an accessible platform, such as structured reviews and public comments |
| Estimated | Inferred from a limited or partial sample, stated as an estimate rather than a census |
| Gap | A platform not accessible without a paid data licence, shown as a named gap and never modelled around |
Channel access
Open channels, such as marketplace reviews, Google Reviews and YouTube comments, are read directly. Restricted channels, such as forums and news, are sampled within their limits and marked as estimated. Licensed channels, such as X and Instagram or Facebook, need a paid data licence. Until one is in place for your plan, they appear as gaps with the reason stated.
Themes, not one score
Sentiment is scored by theme, because a brand can be praised for results and criticised for packaging in the same week. Themes are ranked by share of mentions, with trend direction and a sentiment split for each. There is no single brand-health score, because one number would hide exactly the movements a brand team needs to see.
Theme taxonomies are reviewed per category with a subject-matter reviewer before they are used on a client brand.
Divergence
When two legitimate readings of the same brand disagree, for example verified-purchase reviews against comments on sponsored content, we report two numbers with a named explanation. Often these are two different audiences sharing one brand name, and the difference between them is the most useful finding on the page.
Run it on your brand and two competitors
See the last thirty days of public signal for your own brand set.