Yeah right! Sarcasm poses problem for computer algorithms in U.S. election
Reuters
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - When the U.S. Supreme Court upheld same-sex weddings in the same week that South Carolina debated keeping a controversial Civil War battle flag, Twitter user @xTomatoez posted “Gay marriage and the Confederate flag going down everywhere. Tough week for your redneck uncle on Facebook.”
The poster had no idea his tweet was one of many scrutinized by an analytics firm, whose algorithm took his mocking message seriously and decided it was negative toward gay marriage.
In the race for the White House in 2016, election campaigns rely on such research to help them tailor advertising and other outreach to particular groups of voters. A candidate's ability to micro-target likely voters with ads on issues they care about is crucial in a modern American political campaign.
Understanding how voters talk about issues on Facebook and Twitter is key to this effort. But increasingly, data gatherers find themselves tripped up by basic social media conventions like sarcasm and mockery. (Graphic: http://reut.rs/1Dh9fgF)
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Haystaq, a predictive analysis firm, examined Tweets containing the expression “classy” and found 72 percent of them used it in a positive way. But when used near the name of Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, around three quarters of tweets citing "classy" were negative.
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Almost all analysts caution against putting too much stock in social media, particularly Twitter given that only one fifth of U.S. adults use it, according to the Pew Research Center. But those that do tend to strike a sarcastic tone.
“There’s something about that 140 characters (limit) that encourages people to be more flippant,” Meyers of TargetPoint said.
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The Donald is a YUUUUUUUGE success!!!
while the bot rates that comment as 
