PALO ALTO, Calif., Jan. 6, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Attensity, a leading provider of social analytics solutions and engagement solutions, today announced an initiative with Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ:YHOO), the premier digital media company, to provide millions of viewers a voice in the upcoming ABC News debate to be held on Saturday, January 7th at 9pm EST/6pm PST in New Hampshire. During the course of the debate, Attensity's Voice of the Voter application will monitor and analyze social media conversations about the candidates and issues, and deliver live, dynamic reports to the Yahoo! elections web site at http://news.yahoo.com/elections/debate/. The reports will include sentiment scores for each candidate, and ratings on the candidate's performance on key issues such as the economy, defense, healthcare and foreign policy.

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"We believe that the Yahoo! audience will play a pivotal role in determining the next president of the United States and Yahoo! News is committed to utilizing the voice of the voter as a cornerstone to its unmatched coverage of the 2012 Election," said Rob Barrett, VP, Yahoo! News & Finance. "Teaming with a leading analytics provider like Attensity offers Yahoo! a great opportunity to deliver the key news and analysis that matter to Americans."

The Attensity Voice of the Voter application is driven by Attensity's real-time social analytics solution, which is designed to give major news media and other event-driven organizations the ability to perform detailed analysis of time-sensitive topics from over 75 million social media and other online sources. Unlike other news sites featuring social apps that count the number of comments about a particular topic, Attensity accurately measures viewer sentiment - how viewers feel about the candidates' positions--in real time as they debate the issues. Viewers can watch the candidates' scores change in real time as the debate progresses.

"The growing influence of social media on everything from political movements to companies, products and brands is undeniable," said Ian Bonner, CEO of Attensity. "Yahoo! and Attensity are setting a new industry standard by delivering real-time social media analysis of news events such as the presidential debates. We believe it is only a short matter of time before other news and media organizations will follow suit."

Attensity and Yahoo! recently provided similar real-time social analytics for the Republican debate on December 10th in Iowa. Details of that debate's analysis are available at http://www2.attensity.com/republicandebate. Once the January 7th debate concludes, updated results will also be posted on this site.

About Attensity(TM)

Attensity's social analytics and engagement solutions are the choice of the world's leading brands for Customer Experience Management (CEM). Attensity is the only company that gives business users the ability to analyze millions of real-time customer conversations from any online, social media or internal source, and extract the industry's most accurate insights to drive business decisions. From its headquarters in Palo Alto, Calif., and Kaiserslautern, Germany, Attensity is powering the customer experience strategies of companies such as AT&T, Charles Schwab, JetBlue Airways, Lloyd's Banking Group, Siemens, Starwood Hotels & Resorts, Travelocity and Whirlpool. Visit www.attensity.com and follow the company at blog.attensity.com, on Twitter @Attensity, and on facebook.com/Attensity.

©2012 Attensity Group. Attensity is a trademark of Attensity Group in the United States and/or other countries. Other brand and product names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders. Information is subject to change without notice. All rights reserved.

Contacts:

Rebecca MacDonald, Vice President of Marketing, (650) 433-1700, rmacdonald@attensity.com

Lisa Hawes, Sterling Communications, (408) 884-5155, attensity@sterlingpr.com

SOURCE Attensity