If You Can't Control Your Emotions, Your Computer Will

All you naughty Newser commenters, take note: Software developers are readying an algorithm to glean the human emotions in text and possibly censor inappropriate online discussions, New Scientist reports. So far, the biggest users of such pricey “sentiment analysis” tools are companies looking to gauge consumer reaction to brand-name products.

One firm, using the software to examine Twitter responses to Amazon’s announcement of a new Kindle, found that 89% of 1,500 messages were neutral, 7% positive, and 4% negative. Such software could also warn job seekers to smarten up their resumés or help singles optimize their online profiles. The software will soon be widely available, so be careful how you respond below.