"Sarcasm poses problem for computer algorithms in US election"

"Yeah right!"

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.

“They are by far the biggest stumbling blocks to trying to understand true sentiment in social media,” said Michael Meyers, managing partner of TargetPoint Consulting in Alexandria, Virginia. His firm, like many, is trying to tweak algorithms in-house now before the campaign season kicks into high gear.

Consider phrases like “sure it is,” “boo-hoo,” or “I’m shocked.” Given the proper context, most people can accurately size up their sincerity. But not a computer algorithm.

Ok people. Lets try to help the computers by not being too sarcastic. Curb your sarcasm.